( 


HOW  ILLINOIS  WILL  FEED  HER  NEW  WATERWAY 


BY 

ALVIN  GUGELER  MATHEWS 

B.  S.  University  of  Illinois,  1921 


THESIS 

SUBMITTED  IN  PARTIAL  FULFILLMENT  OF  THE  REQUIREMENTS 
FOR  THE  DEGREE  OF  MASTER  OF  SCIENCE  IN  BUSINESS 
ORGANIZATION  AND  OPERATION  IN  THE  GRADUATE 
SCHOOL  OF  THE  UNIVERSITY  OF  ILLINOIS, 

1922 


URBANA,  ILLINOIS 


Digitized  by  the  Internet  Archive 
in  2015 


https://archive.org/details/howillinoiswillfOOmath 


n\Az. 


UNIVERSITY  OF  ILLINOIS 


THE  GRADUATE  SCHOOL 


June  1 


-IQ2J 


I HEREBY  RECOMMEND  THAI’  THE  THESIS  PREPARED  UNDER  MY 


SUPERVISION  BY  Alvin  Gup;eler  Mathews 


ENIYTLED^  Jiov,f_Illinoi3  w_ill  Feed  H??r  Np>w  Waterway 


BE  ACCEPTED  AS  FULFILLING  THIS  PART  OF  THE  REQITREMENTS  FOR 


THE  DEGREE  OF  I'^aeter  of  Science 


In  Charge  of  Thesis 


Head  of  Department 


Recommendation  concurred  in^ 


Committee 


on 


Final  Examination* 


•Required  for  doctor’s  de^^ree  but  not  for  master's 


(II  • 


lllHil  liliM  jr 


iii 


TABLE  OF  COITTEHTS 


CHAPTER 

I 

THE  HATURE  OF  THE  PROBLEM 

PAGE 

1 

CHAPTER 

II 

ILLINOIS  V/ATERWAY  HISTORY  AIM) 
THE  PRESEHT  PROJECT 

PAGE 

4 

CHAPTER 

III 

WATER  TRAIJSPORTATIOH  COSTS 

PAGE 

16 

CHAPTER 

IV 

COIvIMERCIAL  ASPECTS 

PAGE 

28 

CHAPTER 

V 

RELATED  PROJECTS  A^JD  PSI^TDING 
ISSUES 

PAGE 

64 

CHAPTER 

VI 

THE  RESULTS  OF  THE  SUR^/EY 

PAGE 

80 

BIBLIOGRAPHY 

PAGE 

63 

LIST  OF  PLAT3S 

Plate  Page 

I The  Route  of  the  Illinois  Waterway  9 

II  The  Project  from  Lockport  to  Utica  Shov/-  13 

ing  Alignment  and  Profile 

III  Territory  Given  low  Transportation  Costs  18 

by  the  Mississippi-Warrior  Service 

IV  Coal  in  Illinois  • 31 

V Premier  Coal  Producers  39 

VI  Coal  and  Grain  Production  within  the  56 

Forty-Mile  Area  Contiguous  to 
the  Illinois  Waterway 

VII  The  Hard  Roads  Plan  for  Illinois  57 

VIII  Railroads  Connecting  with  the  Waterway  58 

IX  Area  and  Destination  of  Grain  Export  Trade  60 

X States  Demanding  an  Outlet  by  Means  of  the  65 

Great  Lakes  Seaway 

XI  Cities  to  Become  Seaports  66 

XII  The  Illinois  Waterway  as  a Link  in  the  67 

Water  Transportation  System  of 
the  World 

XIII  Route  of  the  Proposed  International  V/ater-  70 

way  from  Lake  Ontario  to  the  Head  of 
Ocean  navigation 

XIV  The  Flood  Prism  on  the  Illinois  River 

Before  and  After  the  Construction 
of  Levees 


78 


0.V" 

^ ' 


' /'  '■  * 


i,‘  ■: Sff  i/»  U.  • 4?^'j 

'i 

.'’  • 

'iV'*.  •^■.  'f '.».f  •:•; ^ M-ic 4%': 


■I'rMi'i 


I *, 


' ,i  *4i  ■• , ■ \a'  /• 


c , " r•i.^•  ^ :.  if  IX '*t  ,■>  /J<|.*;4  * ’fv'  ‘ • ',' ' ' ' : . :t| ' ' ■ 


f'l’ 


I ■ i.- . ' ^ :.  i’  u ' 1 1.--  .'JT- . 1/  » vui . • - ' , ' ' ' .ia  j 

-sv/-..  j:;'.r 


• "’^  ■ >'<•;  woks'  •■  5W 

•;  ■-■'  ■•■fiV'  i'a  < If  • ^--jn - v'f- j%<  'I’ j 

•V^-  - . . .. : ^ v.:'  'I 


r ‘ I I ' ' (’ 


. '•.A'.tj.’C.  muT'jv’’  a 


'■  .\f . . >.  '■'-  ::•• 

-■'  s y',  -A's?  I^.v  ■ 'AiV 

' L'^*»  -“  **  ' rv**- i) _1jj 


'1 ';».•>' 


..^:i  .s 


•„■  '■ ; . ^ M/.T, 

/r-'  •fc**i‘«»..s-.'^-  ^{1/i  *f ^ 

. ■«<i.4>iu-./ .V'l.  ; '■  ' 


• I ' ' iW  Jl^  V . : 1 ' 


v.< 


' r 


" 'i*  .’  -■ 

‘IW'kr  ■■  ;’i 


. ■!'*nrr 


1. 


CHAPTER  I. 

THE  NATURE  OP  THE  PROBIEM 

Not  a little  significance  was  attached  to  the  arrival  in 
Chicago,  October  20,  1914,  of  four  barges  loaded  with  lumber  that  was 
brought  from  Louisiana  by  water.  The  lumber  was  carried  as  far  as 
La  Salle,  Illinois,  on  a single  steel  barge,  the  "Jack  Cook,”  reach- 
ing that  city  by  way  of  the  Mississippi  River  and  the  Hennepin  Canal. 
At  La  Salle  the  barge  struck  shallow  water  and  it  was  necessary  to 
transfer  the  lumber  to  four  smaller  barges  of  such  light  draft  that 
they  could  navigate  the  old  Illinois  and  Michigan  Canal  and  pass 
through  the  small  locks  of  that  antiquated  waterway. 

This  shipment  of  lumber  was  made  by  a Chicago  firm  with 
large  mills  in  the  south,  for  the  purpose  of  demonstrating  the  pos- 
sibilities of  water  transportation.  It  was  not  considered  feasible 
at  that  time  to  continue  the  shipments  on  the  basis  of  transferring 
freight  to  small  barges  at  La  Salle,  but  the  general  opinion  prevailec 
that  it  was  only  necessary  so  to  improve  the  channel  and  enlarge  the 
locks  as  to  permit  the  bringing  of  freight  from  the  south  direct  to 
Chicago  without  breaking  bulk,  to  make  possible  the  shipping  north 
by  water  of  much  southern  lumber.^ 

Por  many  years  past  there  has  existed  in  the  state  of 
Illinois  an  emphatic  deraand  for  a waterway  between  Chicago  and  the 
Gulf  of  Mexico.  The  practicability  of  such  a waterway  was  noted  by 
Pere  Marquette  when  he  first  discovered  the  portage  bet?/een  the 
Chicago  River  and  the  Des  Plaines  River  centuries  ago.  Its  feasibil- 
^Daily  News.  Chicago,  October  21,  1914. 


2. 

ity  was  further  noted  hy  the  early  pioneers  of  the  state  and  the 
boundary  lines  of  Illinois  were  fixed,  upon  its  admission  to  the 
union  of  states,  so  as  to  provide  for  this  waterway.^ 

As  is  inevitable  in  a discussion  of  a topic  of  such  impor- 
tance as  this  one,  there  is  bound  to  be  a difference  of  opinion,  and 
many  people  believe  that  the  development  of  waterways  solely  in  the 
interest  of  the  general  public,  would  not  hurt  the  railroads.  Many 
who  believe  that  such  a policy  would  injure  the  railroads,  neverthe- 
less, have  the  public  spirit  to  advocate  that  which  they  believe  to 
be  for  the  general  good.  There  is  a large  group,  on  the  other  hand, 
which  is  of  the  opinion  that  development  of  waterways  is  uneconomic. 
Whatever  is  for  the  public  good  ought  to  be  done  even  if  in  conse- 
quence some  particular  interest  suffers. 

In  the  following  discussion  of  the  problem,  the  question 
that  had  to  be  considered  first  of  all  in  regard  to  the  Illinois 
Waterway,  was  whether  the  carrying  out  of  the  project  would  secure 
cheaper  and  more  adequate  facilities  for  transportation.  Following 
a chapter  given  over  to  the  history  of  canal  development  in  Illinois 
and  a description  of  the  proposed  new  Illinois  Waterway,  the  possi- 
bilities for  reduced  freights  on  this  avenue  of  transportation  are 
determined  by  an  historical  and  contemporary  investigation. 

In  dealing  with  canal  or  waterway  rates  it  is  essential  to 
keep  in  mind,  the  entire  economic  cost  of  transportation,  including 
not  only  the  rates  that  the  shipper  pays  to  the  owners  of  the  boats, 

but  also  what  the  public  pays  in  taxes  for  improvements  and  construc- 

2 

tion  of  the  waterways, 

^Message  to  the  Illinois  State  Legislature.  Edv/ard  F.  Dunne,  Governor 
February  17,  1915. 

2 

Data  which  are  reliable  are  a bit  scarce  in  this  country,  for  this 


"i 


n/  r,;<  t^:"-'^ 


'»  I 


5f'. 


f I 


' . *,.-  ■>. i '•  V • »vi jt’^/ ••? • k<-  V..,'  \o‘  is/i'tfc'  ^ 

- ■ ,,  ;■  rf-^  » 

.•  r.7  . ,».:i'fv,r  a-  / fl;t  «: ; . *;3 

'it-  M.  . '•  -is'i'trJb*  iiv-ojcl  .-.r  'i>tiaia4M-'  ,ooo  « 


iU 


<.U'”  itv.-.-iv^)‘  'ly, 

‘ * 1 ' * ' • *”  ' . " ^1  . . ’ 


i.I-.v/X-  t'C-.,.  4<1C.m 


■'1  ■ K -v/  -tf  iji  i t-H.  1^  I ' 

' . :</•■  ■•  <•  , ■m}j 

■ ' 'V  ’,‘At  '' ’ j *j ' t'*>-  «/C'  • -i  ■'■>  • ; '' 


'I'  1 it" 


. ' *l‘r  ■ ■ ■-  " ' - ii-. 


•'"iv 


•■«  »*, 


4 ' 


t... 


*U'  fX  • '.ct».*s';4^i?;  t f-  ‘<<flJ‘vrvXX6’!  '•a.(U 

^ - y'  II  f ^'ij^ 

' r.i.«/ 'y.f£ i^.. i 

'•  " ■•> ' ■■'  .:'/•  . ’ ,V  ■'  JT' 


t ■> 





■ ' •' • !'  '...j  ■ 


-V.-.i^uV  f.?  ' I.M47?  \'yjt  >*»«?•• ‘^idfSr^C  W/'K 


• .■•■'r.i.-  . Vr  '.  ' ita  :‘':u;*i  eil§r^| 

^ ’>VJ.'  ' '*.,  . *—  .ij*"**  P 

,Mr"7'  I li'.Ui^Ci  ,f^ff.f  L%.0_0 


. ' .■<■ 


! }.  . ■,  / -7  ■■i.r.n*  ul^ 

• I 4V.i  . ^ ^ i ' * . 


Cl  * 


/.•■Jl..*' 


<j<.,*JiL-'‘-  “(  K'\00  y.<^f:'BC'.>  '.  *,ti>4-'  I^K 


I ■ ■ .‘^ 


■ ' CkS . , .. 

■•;  V,7  r^'<; '>?prt 

< '■  ^ , •.  V ■ ’ 

Ttj:/Jj‘  ao‘3  r.  r.M*  ,4 


wi':?  J 

' ■ ■ ^t■-.i*^«  1 ', 

,i  • ••-*•«  »*'•>  V ^ t*  •«  I*p»  <*  ' f ■ I 

m 


. k J ’ t;.  ^ • , :.^y*^'*f  » ^ 

V.  . ■ ,-4.,;  . 


3. 

With  the  probable  freight  cost  established,  the  next  step 
involves  a comprehensive  survey  of  the  potential  freight  supply,  in 
order  to  throw  light  upon  the  question  of  just  how  the  Illinois 
Waterway  will  be  furnished  with  tonnage.  A necessary  intervening 
chapter  dealing  with  some  closely  associated  phases  of  the  subject 
comes  next  and  this  is  followed  with  some  conclusions  concerning  the 
economic  good  to  be  performed  by  the  Illinois  Waterway. 


expense.  In  Europe  it  is  decidedly  different.  There  the  Govern- 
ments endeavor  to  keep  accurate  information  on  such  matters. 


,fT.n.  iiu'>uWv  / . 

;D3  ;^-  ' HBffli  ■ ■ ■ ' • «F.  r 

<i;  • v,«: ; U » ■ ••/<;'.  Wc  :•  '-W  t?es(iii^,..^/i60pJlXwotrt4L  J 

• ■ • ^"4.,  ^,.  Tfi  V'  ■'■  ■_.  ' ■'*.  A 


' , '■  . "■  7 , i'  V"  \ ' ^ W- 

■M/hK  -^'u  i.v  ;y.v:iv-.rt‘.i  1^0^ v^^’3^2' 

' . ■ - . -^'  ’ k'!i^^‘  ' '‘^i  I ‘ '*  ■^  . tv  ' jf.  ! 1! 


. ../•vr*'-'’.  ■'.  .*'  .(%: ' '*  >x^^-  s *i '-%  ■ 0 ■ ti 

- ■ . ‘ ■ •*  ' . ' *'  . I • ;.  ti)>  l rm. 


k i 


■S  ..  t-.4  .s  ,v:;i;’^?. ‘0,  ' b1  i;  ‘ 

TTt.fT* 


-?”  vg-ig*  -^-riiMian 


4. 


CHAPTER  II. 

ILLINOIS  WATERWAY  HISTORY  AND  THE  PRESENT  PROJECT 

After  the  completion  of  the  Erie  Canal  in  1825,  a frenzy 
of  canal  building  swept  the  country.  Although  the  total  cost  of  this 
canal  to  the  State  of  New  York  was  over  seven  million  dollars,  before 
it  was  completed  the  tolls  had  aggregated  over  a million  dollars  and 
by  the  close  of  the  season  of  1832  sufficient  tolls  had  been  collect- 
ed to  pay  the  entire  cost  of  the  canal.  For  many  years  the  canal 
tolls  were  ample  to  pay  all  the  expenses  of  the  state  government.^ 

Canal  building  operations  extended  as  far  west  as  Illinois 
and  Wisconsin  where  the  Illinois  and  Michigan  Canal  was  completed  in 
1848  and  the  Fox  River  Canal  in  1856,^  Ohio  had  its  canal  system 
completed  at  a much  earlier  date. 

The  beginning  of  railway  building  in  the  United  States  was 
contemporary  with  the  canals  of  the  early  part  of  the  nineteenth 
century.  The  Ceuials  had  blazed  the  way  through  the  wilderness,  estab- 
lished industries  and  developed  the  natural  resources  of  the  country. 
The  railroads  paralleled  the  canals  and  waterways,  and  became  keen 
competitors  for  the  trade  already  built  up.^ 


■^Fairlie,  John  A,,  The  New  York  Canals.  Q,uarterly  Journal  of  Econom- 
ics, XIV,  p.  212. 

^Putnam,  James  W. , The  Illinois  and  Michigan  Canal,  p.  23, 

^It  should  be  borne  in  mind  that  railroad  building  in  Dakota  and 

Minnesota  began  on  a large  scale  only  after  the  enlargement  of  the 
“Soo”  Canal,  when  it  was  seen  that  there  would  be  good  connections 
and  facilities  for  a through  direct  water  route  to  Buffalo.  Pro- 
fessor John  A.  Fairlie,  in  an  article  entitled,  The  Economic  Ef- 
fects of  Ship  Canals,  in  the  Annals  of  the  American  Academy  of 
Political  and  Social  Science,  for  January,  1898,  (Vol.  XI)  describe 
this  development  at  length. 


■c 


I 


ri 


" < 
j 

1 


1 

I 


. ..  U 


vi;cf 


I 


f • 


1 


t 


5. 

Until  during  the  eighties  the  canals  were  able  to  meet  this 
competition  and  in  fact,  the  most  important  of  them  did  a flourishing 
business  until  about  the  beginning  of  the  present  century.  The 
patenting  of  the  process  of  making  Bessemer  Steel  by  Sir  Henry  Besse- 
mer in  1858  was  responsible  more  than  any  other  one  factor  for  the 
ultimate  re trogradation  of  the  internal  waterways  of  early  days. 

This  process  permitted  the  production  of  steel  rails  in  large  quanti- 
ties on  account  of  the  cheapness  of  manufacture  made  possible  by  it. 

It  was  inevitable  that  the  needs  of  the  time  coupled  with  the  oppor- 
tunities presented  by  the  new  process  should  bring  about  a period  of 
frenzied  railroad  construction  more  intense  than  had  been  the  canal 
mania  fifty  years  before.  The  craze  reached  its  height  in  the  decade 
1880  to  1890,^  Then  as  a reaction  to  this  period  of  over-expansion 
of  transportation  facilities  came  the  great  rate  wars  and  methods  of 
unfair  competition  which  did  not  lessen  until  many  of  the  railroads 
were  in  the  hands  of  receivers,  some  of  the  canals  closed  and  Federal 
laws  enacted  to  deal  with  the  evils. 

During  the  eighty-year  period  since  their  inception,  the 
railroads  had  continually  improved  and  developed  their  roadbeds  and 
facilities  for  handling  freight,  while  the  canals  remained  in  the  same 
primitive  state  in  which  they  were  first  built  and  the  freight  was 
handled  in  the  same  ancient  manner.  The  trend  of  the  times  was  to- 
ward the  railroads,  encouraged  by  the  activities,  fair  and  unfair, 

2 

of  those  who  had  their  money  invested  in  them. 

^Johnson  and  Van  Metre,  Principles  of  Railroad  Transportation,  p,  31. 

^"The  main  reason  why  the  commerce  on  our  navigable  rivers  is  so  much 
smaller  than  on  those  of  Europe  is  not  that  our  rivers  are  poten- 
tially less  efficient  facilities  of  transportation,  but  that  our 
railways  are  more  efficient  than  their  railways  and  make  lower 
rates.  The  governments  of  continental  Europe  so  regulate  the  rates 
of  the  railways  as  to  make  them  rather  inflexible,  while  the  boats 


6, 

The  Illinois  and  Michigan  Canal^ 

In  1836  the  State  of  Illinois  began  the  construction  of  a 
canal  connecting  Lake  Michigan  at  Chicago  with  the  navigable  portion 
of  the  Illinois  River  at  La  Salle.  . This  canal  was  opened  to  naviga- 
tion in  1848  and  became  a very  important  factor  in  the  settlement  of 
northern  and  central  Illinois.  Financially  the  canal  was  a success. 
During  the  Civil  War  it  was  a great  factor  in  meeting  transportation 
needs  of  that  period. 

From  1860  to  1890  this  canal  not  only  handled  a large  ton- 
nage but  its  revenues  were  more  than  sufficient  to  pay  its  cost  of 

p 

construction  and  its  operating  maintenance.  From  1880  to  1900  the 
canal  was  still  handling  sufficient  traffic  to  pay  its  operation  and 
maintenance.  The  construction  of  the  Chicago  Sanitary  District  and 
Ship  Channel  and  its  opening  in  1900,  because  the  bed  of  the  Illinois 
River  and  that  of  the  Chicago  River  was  used  in  part,  materially 
interfered  with  its  operation  and  the  revenues  decreased. 

In  1870  railroad  interests  succeeded  in  having  adopted  a 
provision  in  the  State  constitution  prohibiting  the  extention  of 
the  State’s  credit  to  canals  or  railroads.  By  this  provision  the 


are  allowed  to  give  all  the  flexibility  to  their  rates  necessary 
to  secure  business. "--Frederic  A.  Delano,  in  an  address  before  the 
National  Rivers  and  Harbors  Congress  of  the  United  States,  Wash- 
ington, December  8,  1910. 

Railway  rates  in  the  United  States  are  about  half  those  of  Europe. 

^Putnam,  James  W. , The  Illinois  and  Michigan  Canal,  in  which  an  ex- 
cellent treatment  of  the  whole  subject  is  found. 

p 

'^Putnam,  James  W.  , An  Economic  History  of  the  Illinois  and  Michi,3:an 
Canal . Journal  of  Political  Economy,  XVII,  May,  June,  July,  1909, 

'^The  clause  is  as  follows:  "The  Illinois  and  Michigan  Canal  shall 
never  be  sold  or  leased  until  the  specific  proposition  for  the 
sale  or  lease  thereof  shall  first  have  been  submitted  to  a vote  of 
the  people  of  the  State  at  a general  election,  and  have  been  ap- 
proved by  a majority  of  all  the  votes  polled  at  such  election. 

The  General  Assembly  shall  never  loan  the  credit  of  the  State,  or 


7. 

State  was  prevented  from  malting  any  appropriations  to  take  care  of 

its  own  property,  and  there  was  little  opportunity  for  enlargement 

of  canal  locks  for  boats  of  larger  capacity,  necessary  to  compete 

with  rail  tonnages.  Paralleling  railroads  took  advantage  of  this 

situation.  During  the  summer,  rates  within  the  territory/  accessible 

to  the  Illinois  River  and  to  the  Illinois  and  Michigan  Canal  were 

lowered  about  forty  percent,^'  As  soon  as  navigation  closed  for  the 

2 

season  these  rates  were  promptly  raised.  The  loss  was  made  up  in 
every  instance  by  compelling  the  long-haul  shipment  outside  this 
territory  to  pay  a higher  rate.  At  the  time  this  insidious  system 
was  effective  there  was  no  power  of  rate  control  over  the  railroads, 
either  Federal  or  State. ^ The  effect  of  this  unfair  practice,  to- 
gether with  the  handicap  upon  the  future  of  canalization  which  the 
railroads  had  succeeded  in  making  a part  of  the  constitution,  soon 
put  this  canal  out  of  business  as  an  active  factor  in  freight  trans- 
portation. 

The  construction  of  the  canal  cost  $6,170,226.  The  income 


make  appropriations  from  the  treasury  thereof  in  aid  of  railroads 
or  canals.  Provided,  that  any  surplus  earnings  of  any  canal  may 
be  appropriated  for  its  enlargement  or  extention." 

Iputnam,  James  V/, , An  Economic  History  of  the  Illinois  and  Michigan 
Canal . Journal  of  Political  Economy,  XVII,  May,  June,  July,  1909. 

honorable  James  Shaw,  of  Carroll  County,  speaking  before  the  House 
or  Representatives  on  May  14,  1879,  made  the  follov/ing  statement: 
’’The  Chicago  and  Rock  Isla,nd  Railroad  makes  its  freight  tariffs 
higher  in  the  winter  than  in  the  summer,  ITow,  where  several 
routes,  of  the  same  or  different  kinds,  exist  betv/een  terminal 
points,  or  great  centers  of  trade,  that  route  which  is  shortest  or 
cheapest  must  regulate  terms  for  all  the  rest;  and  this  by  a well- 
known  natural  law.  Does  the  canal  lower  freights  at  any  or  all 
seasons  on  the  Rock  Island  Railroad?  If  so,  then  the  roads  east 
and  v/est  of  that  line,  in  competition  with  it,  must  also  lower 
freights.  And  this  is  exactly  what  does  take  place  when  the  canal 
is  open,  and  to  some  extent  when  it  is  closed  by  the  embargo  of 
winter.  Freights  are  then  stored  and  v/ait  for  the  opening  of  the 
canal  in  the  spring  of  the  year.” 

^ery  little  Federal  regulation  existed  before  1887.  


•«  I 


1 • .;! 

‘ • I-  ' ^ 

' . 1 

• ;^  ti ' p^-'r 

,.  j y . ■ ; •'■  •*%'?  f ‘ 

C 

A* 

. X*„  • . ■ ' 1 ' 

./ . 

- 

'■  ■ ■■  ■ ■■  ; ' 

' ■■  ■ ■ 

1 • 

/ « 

T 

( r 

^ - / . *■ 

- J ^ ^ 

<1 

c -Sj'  V 

1 

r • 

t 

t; ;' 

1 

■,  ,o'  r\ 

■ ‘ 

- •-  »• 

(''j.  ^ #;•.  * . ■ • 

K„  ' v: 

'.-  j,  i 

to, 

' t-'. 

:r  ,.•  '■;■ 

' ' ) ' . 

. ^ .J 

: I-,  ■ 

* . 

i 

. ■ . ■ ii% 

4-'  i i n .1  '.■*  ^ 


i-  ' ■*  '*;:a  • * - h .■  . ■ '■  »v^J 

-•.  J ' ^ ..r-  'J  i 

"'.iv  ■ i''  lU 

■ -'  ii 


8. 

from  tolls  and  leases  up  to  1915  v/as  $6,964,518.  The  total  amount 

of  freight  handled  from  1880  to  1915  was  74,000,000  tons.  Canal 

Commissioner  Brainerd  estimated  in  1885  that  up  to  that  Ume  the  canal 

1 , 2 

had  salved  the  people  of  the  State  $180,000,000  in  freight  charges. 


The  Illinois  V/aterway 

The  Illinois  Waterway  is  the  official  name  given  to  the 
waterviray  to  be  built  pursuant  to  a referendum  vote  of  the  people  of 
Illinois  in  1908*  That  year  the  people  of  Illinois  voted  to  bond  the 
commonwealth  in  the  amount  of  $20,000,000  for  the  construction  of  a 
deep  waterway  and  powerplants  incident  to  the  project  from  Lockport 

3 

to  a point  in  the  Illinois  River  near  Utica.  The  Illinois  River 
v/as  to  be  used  without  canalization  from  Utica  on  south  to  its  mouth 
at  Grafton.^  Plate  I,  page  9,  shows  the  route  of  the  Illinois  Water- 
way. 

Since  the  authorization  of  this  bond  issue,  engineers  and 
others  have  proposed  various  plans  for  carrying  out  the  will  of  the 
people.  Among  these  plans  at  least  three  have  been  given  serious 
consideration, 

^"For  many  years  all  of  our  domestic  waterways  have  suffered  from  the 
same  causes.  Their  narrow  channels,  shallow  depths,  inadequate 
locks  and  primitive  terminal  facilities  present  a striking  contras 
to  the  State  and  nation  aided  development  of  the  railroads  of  the 
country.  Our  railroad  trains  carry  from  1,500  to  3,000  tons  of 
freight  in  a single  train;  our  canal  boats,  200  tons  as  a maximum 
load.  Under  such  circumstances  it  is  not  surprising  that  our 
canals  and  waterways  have  fallen  into  comparative  disuse.”-- 
Special  Message  of  Charles  S,  Deneen,  Governor,  to  the  Forty- 
seventh  General  Assembly,  April  25,  1911, 

^Putnam,  James  W,  , The  Illinois  and  Michi/<an  Canal.  Chapter  II. 

^Barnes,  M,  G,  , The  Illinois  Waterv/ay.  p.  1. 

4lt  is  expected  that  the  Illinois  Waterway  can  be  used  from  nine  to 
ten  months  out  of  the  year.  Although  the  upper  end  of  the  stream 
is  in  a latitude  which  usually  has  freezing  weather  about  four 
months  in  the  year,  the  warm  sewage  currents  and  factory  wastes 
from  Chicago  will  tend  to  modify  the  effect  of  the  cold, 


9 


PT.AT^  I. 


THE  ROUTE  OP  THE  ILLINOIS  WATERWAY 


10 


The  first  plan  proposed,  contemplated  the  construction 
of  a ship  channel  from  Chicago  to  the  Gulf,  of  dimensions  a,dequate 
to  accommodate  ocean  going  vessels.  After  a good  deal  of  careful 
consideration  of  this  plan  it  was  rejected  "because  it  was  not  consid- 
ered feasible  to  construct  v/ater?;ays  through  the  Illinois  and  Miss- 

1 

issippi  Rivers  with  depths  sufficient  to  accommodate  ocean  vessels, 
and  even  if  feasible,  the  cost  would  be  out  of  all  proportion  to  the 
prospective  benefits. 

The  next  plan  proposed  was  for  a barge  canal  with  locks 
55  by  250  feet.  A law  was  enacted  in  1915  for  the  purpose  of  initi- 
ating construction  under  this  plan.  The  general  opinion  among  engi- 
neers was  that  the  second  plan  v^rith  its  puny  estimate  of  the  actual 
and  future  needs  of  the  State,  had  erred  as  much  on  the  one  side  as 
the  proposed  ship  Channel  did  on  the  other.  Neither  plan  received 
favorable  consideration  from  the  V/ar  Department  and  permit  for  con- 
struction was  not  issued. 

This  was  the  condition  of  affairs  when  Governor  Lowden  took 
office  in  1917.  He  found  a mandate  from  the  people  by  direct  vote 
authorizing  the  construction  of  a deep  waterway  and  power  incident 
thereto;  a law  enacted  by  the  Legislature  in  1915  appropriating 
$5,000,000  for  its  construction;  and  the  plans  for  the  waterway  con- 
templated by  the  act  of  1915  disapproved  by  the  War  Department. 

^”A  great  many  intelligent  persons  concede  that  the  traffic  on  the 
inland  v/aterways  of  the  United  States,  except  the  Great  Lakes, 
has  declined,  v/hile  that  on  the  waterways  of  Europe  has  increased, 
because  of  the  cheap  and  superior  service  of  our  railways,  and 
contend  that  we  can  make  our  v/aterways  successful  competitors  of 
our  railways  only  by  making  our  v/aterways  greatly  superior  to  the 
waterways  of  Europe.  They,  therefore,  advocate  digging  canals  and 
canalizing  our  rivers  to  depths  exceeding  those  attained  on  such 
v/aterways  in  any  other  country.  One  of  the  plans  is  for  a four- 
teen foot  waterway  from  Chicago  to  New  Orleans.  It  is  question- 
able if  the  results  would  be  worth  the  cost . "--Frederic  A.  Delano, 

in  an  address  before  the  National  Rivers  and  Harbors  Congress  of 
the  United  States,  Washington,  December  S,  1910. 


,01 


‘»«w 


SS^ 


r . 


f m 


r 


» 


. ' ;<  "P?KPBi  ■ ■ r IT  • '■ 

-V  “ ' V ' 7''  Vl“' V* ' '’f^B  "41  '»■ 


, I t , ,,'. 


X- 


I 


\ ■'  ..Cr.;a*x-;,if)’  '"{>  .C.c-if,  ; '.rx  p ■fKt^i!>pa|!itfow^i’ 

• • ' - ' " V‘  .'■  ’ , 

u vrji;.  .n.;./.)M,.U-  • :f ate  -o*^ 

. t a 1.  P I .1  *a  A /Atfjii  jiK  (■  /jA'Uit  KVlK“"t  ' J > rj  i-.  A *v  ,1 . ^ F 'n^Vf; 


mU  oJ  .^o^^  'ip 


iitiiiDor  ri:' ■ 


"•1 


■ 4 


r;*  *..  - '/v't  , 

^ *■  '■::  : .tc-  t*(}^ .>,';•.■.!•?•  ar/^-  G#:X  iti  ' *j w .«M».,-'«  *"X  . 


■V 


ev 


-H 


''  '■■  ' - , ■ ^ 4^1  :'i^.'-'  •.  ' 

Ll‘iJj‘il'i  Hi:  '^0  'i>  ' ..  til  l,‘ :{^'»  u } i.  li^l  t'Wlv 

* “ . • , fc . * ^ ? . .*  ‘ I 


I"  4,1  * 


'>r?a  ">a>^  ..W'  -h- 


.•  -•  J. 


' i-  • 


Vw,l  ■"'■’» 

"1  <14  .' 

i 'l;>[s" 

’';  1 '! 

''Ip.' ' ' ^ 

y t'-: 

,:i  0.* 

p 1 /- 

,,  1 i 

!9‘-  'V'>;‘ 

1,'Sfiy'  * 

.-!j  ■!:'•. 

. -*»■'  ■' 

.:  ;.r;^' 

-iVV 

r^' 


. typt- -.1*  t » ii4i/^yr*^(oU;C^ 

■ i '.'j  . nil  " - :l  * ■ 1! 


.»,p»';  -i.  .•;.o  aaixM :i.i~o  »*4*  t,|»^  i *^*ljf^'*’"’’. 


-jfr 


it*  til 


■;’.'  I*T';r  x.-  «%*;.}'  pf iivi)fii[o<;(  i: C'?‘>'rfl X'"  -' 

I .1-  «.  j*  • r ,4f'  t ^ _ f - ^ ^ ^ ^ . ^ • ■ ' 


V',:  4!.y  ;:)y'J‘y  f>tit  .f  r.‘«>  ^ ?>.  '''r  i ^ ;5tf  ^ tlfp^liil) 

' ,1  e-P;.Jta-.V  -UC  VC  *(£S4®' ' ..' 


■:,»'r  i . . ' lit 


./  .^f  ‘>'..v  r rvtM>o*'"  4j  , "."4’? 


,^'ii  .'•  ■'  •>(>  at  g‘f*i^i«t  V(1  ^(f0> , .^?vH<vPu;  WJi.it a; 

« ‘ >.  *.  . ur  ...  ♦!'  .'  K,.iapi.V  .Jr:.;." 


, < H'-'clif'--’  . 'C^Vir-  rjXJB'C^./H^ 4^/?^,^.,;  o‘d:‘  ”Y 

?r  jf. .-  II  'MMilBi  ifif<^tiil  IT 

V 


'•  / » 


11 


About  this  time  Mortimer  G.  Barnes,  a graduate  of  the 
University  of  Michigan  and  one  of  the  nation's  outstanding  engineers 
with  pronounced  achievement  in  the  construction  and  improvement  of 
waterways,  v/as  chosen  as  Chief  Engineer,  Department  of  Public  Works 
and  Buildings,  Division  of  Vifaterways  of  the  State  of  Illinois, 

After  reviewing  all  the  data  available,  Mr.  Barnes  recom- 
mended that  both  plans  theretofore  considered  be  rejected  and  a third, 
of  which  he  was  the  author,  adopted.  A portion  of  his  recommendation 
containing  a short  description  of  a third  plan  is  here  given: 

"Experience  in  transportation  on  highways,  railv/ays  and 
waterv/ays  has  shown  the  cost  of  transportation  to  vary  inversely  to 
the  load  transported.  The  construction  of  v;aterv/ays  the  world  over 
has  shown  that  they  have  been  built  too  small  or  at  least  the  business 
attracted  to  waterways  has  outgrown  their  accommodations.  Federal 
engineers  have  realized  this  in  planning  for  the  improvement  of  the 
Ohio  River  in  which  stream  they  have  designed  locks  100  feet  wide 
and  600  feet  usable  length. 

"With  the  conditions  above  numerated  prevailing  (referring 
to  sections  on  economic  conditions,  tonnage  and  hydrology  in  the  first 
part  of  the  report),  there  is  but  one  ansv/er  to  the  problem.  To  be 
designed  along  economic  lines,  the  waterway  should  be  broad  and  of 
medium  draft  to  meet  the  natural  conditions  of  the  streams  to  be 
utilized,  and  the  locks  should  be  so  designed  as  to  accommodate  fleets 
of  large  tonnage.  To  meet  these  conditions,  it  is  recommended  that 
the  channel  should  have  a bottom  width  of  at  least  200  feet  and  the 
locks  should  have  horizontal  dimensions  of  110  feet  by  600  feet, 
which  would  make  them  capable  of  passage  of  cargoes  of  from  7000  to 
9000  tons  in  one  lockage.  The  channel  depth  should  be  a least  eight 


• M 


12 


feet  and  the  locks  should  be  so  designed  that  in  the  future  when  busi- 
ness has  increased  and  money  is  available  the  channel  could  be  deepen- 
ed to  fourteen  feet,^” 

These  recommendations  met  the  approval  of  the  waterway 
interests  of  the  State  of  Illinois  and  negotiations  were  at  once 
entered  into  with  the  V/ar  Department  seeking  its  approval  of  the  plans 
for  a waterway  based  on  such  recommendations.  In  1919  a bill  was 
presented  to  the  Legislature,  providing  for  the  construction  of  such 
2,  waterway  and  repealing  the  act  of  1915.  Before  the  bill  v;as  enact- 
ed it  was  presented  to  officers  of  the  War  Department  who  assured  the 
State  that  the  plans  would  be  approved  if  presented  in  accordance 
vith  the  bill  as  drawn.  The  bill  was  enacted  late  in  the  legislative 
session  with  but  two  or  three  dissenting  votes  and  as  soon  as  a 
preliminary  report  could  be  presented  to  the  War  Department,  the  plans 
were  approved.  Plate  II,  page  13,  shows  the  alignment  and  profile  of 
the  canal  as  now  contemplated. 

About  this  time,  a bill  which  Congress,  looking  to  intelli- 
gent development  and  utilization  of  the  water  power  on  the  navigable 
streams  of  the  United  States,  had  been  trying  to  pass  for  some  time, 
became  a law  and  required  that  in  the  improvement  of  navigable  streams 
consideration  should  be  given  to  full  utilization  of  the  stream  for 
both  power  and  navigation  purposes  so  as  to  best  conserve  their 
natural  resources.  In  early  studies  for  the  development  of  navigation 
on  the  Illinois  River  by  the  Federal  engineers,  little  attention  was 
given  to  power  possibilities.  This  was  excusable  because  at  that 
time  water  power  was  of  little  value  and  the  transmission  of  electri- 
cal power  for  long  distances  v/as  unknovm. 

time  of  this  writing,  Mr.  Barnes  and  his  colleagues 
“H.  J,  R.  41,  State  of  Illinois,  p.  2. 


> I':.  '</ 


^ ^ q;nj 

^ .1 


.'f'fj" 


,(J'  vi0fl  itl.:  ■ tx  ,C4iS^  ^ 


i._  V,yv,\Ti^  ■ ■ ''''^A-*','.'  '>f  • ' f-fev  ..,‘<iy<».  . ^ 


'!AS.  J>f  f>  tb'firt 


i- 


t/.7,  ^ 


*n 


»4^/??;r7:' /;#f  •; 


^V. 


» 


i’bf' 


< is'!  I ■ . ' »'■■•'  .:'  f''' ' ■ 


f 


> -5  "t; 

r;  *■  ^ ■ 


>v. 


•t,>  ti,'  -h'  1 .V'-»  «u/i . 


f y 


► V,  .;  . ri'V  ,'■  »>i£fltti'-"  /'D4:.‘'T^w  ♦V^VX' '■•■ 

^ * r-UA  t.A.  ' 


^ ■; 

£.+,..'  ,(  '.l.  k^'  X-:  , p(‘-  . ..-I;.)  ixp.j.ii^lr*"''^^^--^ 

-j  ..1  .*.  t L.r.‘ 

Ai  '.lU 


>’  : 


■ - .-.'l^  ■ ■”' 

i r 


• fx  ■ ‘•■ 


■«•■■.  ,,t:...  irii,  1/^ 


X r.  ,>  UCT  ''•-X 

' ■ ■ r ' 

. A i^ir  .f 


,i.i.  . •'■■;>  iSV.-';»<: 

1 


■*<m 

- i ‘‘X  '4 


^ r 'i'  I iijP(*;*'«c,ii  jl  S' 


y * 


'1 


,,  ,.  . -V  ..■■oS'frf'jrjfy 

j Ti.Ullt'  t?  *••  ti.  .-«)J^<*S/i  j*f  !> A jw . I ■ | 


",.  iit’l  t)  ' 


.‘A' 


.1 !'  njt- . .(i*.-.  wif  ,j  ,«&<% 


t • '<  ; 


It-  .' 


‘tJi. 


lilfVv;/.#  * it,  '-0  ■’'cJ:’*: 


r 

.?  ' ■ 7'-,‘''3..- 

4.- '♦‘;»«‘'r‘V'oi'-'V’''‘7  ^Mi  - ;.w-.  -7'wv^w-; 

I r r‘.v  a..  J:  *»*10  ' ' r ®,f./r;r /rff'if-r'' !■  .••  ■••••  ’ 

‘ ■ ■''  ^4i'  ‘ -,  »i  '"  ■^V  4tii 

! r £Ui:>.  " ^i'.4rVU<iXQ  yM9  )>  ’‘^ ' ^ ...V 

' - ,A  'Z  ' ' ‘‘•.  ■#  •■  ' h i i'  ■*”■  TiM 


4 


•‘T»^  '■"  ■*'  / ^ ‘w^'Lh 

,v>w  iv-  ;,W-.  • ■ ’-' 


Cl 


it 


/ Ip’-  •■’  *:■..%  SijirAi  • tii4'i;  46 


t 


«**v 


laiw’.finirii  ■>yi|  I 


if  "-je.-n-  .5U>’  . :>  .' 

JT  »'X-,  ■ ^.fl.  "■!»  ~W  '!,J' wWjpflKUi|»  '«!•-■«  , 

• ■ '.  . ■■#  ,•  , . .r  •?  " * 


THE  PROJECT  PROM  LOCKPORT  TO  UTICA  SHOWING  ALIGNMENT  AND  PROPILE 


13 


PLATE  II. 


14 


are  engaged  in  completing  the  details  of  the  project  so  as  to  carry- 
out this  dual  purpose  of  the  canal  in  the  most  advantageous  manner. 
The  site  for  the  first  lock  is  at  Lockpcrt  about  thirty-five  miles 
southwest  of  Chicago,  v/here  at  the  terminus  of  the  Chicago  Sanitary 
and  Ship  Canal  there  is  now  a small  lock  and  pov/er-plant.  This  lock 
with  a lift  of  forty-one  feet  will  connect  the  Sanitary  District 
channel  with  the  Des  Plaines  River.  The  second  lock,  to  be  known  as 
the  Brandon  Road  lock,  v/ill  be  constructed  at  the  southerly  limits 
of  the  city  of  Joliet  and  will  have  a lift  of  thrity-one  feet.  A 
dam  and  power-plant  to  generate  28,000  horse-power  will  be  construct- 
ed here.  The  Kankakee  and  Des  Plaines  Rivers  meet  about  tv/elve  miles 
below  the  sight  of  this  second  lock  and  form  the  Illinois  River.  On 
two  miles  from  this  junction  is  the  site  of  the  third  lock  at  Dresden 
Island.  It  will  have  a lift  of  seventeen  feet  and  there  also  will  be 
constructed  a dam  and  power-plant  to  generate  18,000  horse-power.  As 
a result  of  the  location  of  this  lock,  navigation  will  be  extended 
about  five  miles  up  the  Kankakee  River. 

Prom  this  point  downstream,  the  Illinois  River  can  be 

utilized  for  several  miles  in  its  natural  condition.  At  Marseilles 

near 'the  upper  end  of  Bell’s  Island  is  the  site  of  the  fourth  lock 

with  a lift  of  twenty-one  feet,  and  a power  plant  to  generate  7,000 

horse-power.^  The  plans  at  present  provide  for  only  one  more  lock. 

This  fifth  lock  will  be  at  Starved  Rock  below  Ottawa  and  near  Utica, 

and  although  it  will  permanently  flood  large  tracts  of  land  fronting 

the  river  and  several  large  tillable  islands  betv/een  Marseilles  and 

^At  Marseilles  there  exist  numerous  v;ater  powers  and  thriving  indus- 
trial communities  have  been  built  up  because  of  them.  To  save  thii 
industry,  a canal  has  been  projected  around  the  rapids  at  Marseilila 
some  12,000  feet  in  length,  this  being  the  only  canal  to  be  con- 
structed as  a.  part  of  the  present  development  of  the  Illinois 
V/aterway, 


15. 

Utica,  it  is  the  most  economical  procedure  as  the  cost  of  any  method 
of  construction  to  save  these  lands  from  inundation  v/ould  be  greater 
than  the  value  of  the  lands.  This  lock  will  have  a lift  of  sixteen 
feet  with  a dam  and  power-plant  to  generate  22,000  horse-power.  From 
Utica  on,  the  Illinois  River  may  be  used  for  the  kind  of  navigation 
contemplated  without  canalization. 

But  one  contract  has  been  let  for  work  on  the  Illinois 
V/aterway-- that  for  the  lock  at  Marseilles.^  This  contract  was  let 
October  26,  1920,  and  at  the  present  time  about  one-half  the  work 
has  been  completed. 

^The  feeling  that  the  State  is  delaying  unnecessarily  in  carrying  on 
the  construction  of  the  Waterway,  is  expressed  quite  clearly  by 
Hu^  L.  Maxv/ell  in  an  editorial  entitled,  Illinois  Waterway  Delavei. 
heedlessly,  appearing  in  the  Illinois  Journal  of  Commerce  for  May, 
1922.  A portion  of  the  editorial  is  quoted: 

•'Feeling  is  v/idespread  throughout  Illinois  and  the  entire  Middle 
West  against  the  delay  in  going  ahead  w'ith  the  Illinois  Waterway, 
that  v/ould  make  the  Illinois  River  navigable  from  the  Great  Lakes 
to  the  Mississippi  River  and  the  Gulf  of  Mexico.  Business  interest 
are  of  the  opinion  that  since  the  bond  issue  of  $20,0C0,0C0  for 
carrying  on  the  v/ork  has  been  approved,  and  practically  all  techni- 
calities connected  with  the  project  done  away  v/ith,  nothing  should 
prevent  the  State  Administration  from  launching  further  into  it. 
Cities  all  along  the  route  have  signified  their  desire  for  the 
V/aterway,  permits  have  been  obtained  from  the  Federal  Government, 
and  it  only  remains  for  the  State  Administration  to  advertise  bids. 
Heretofore  the  State  has  deferred  the  greater  portion  of  the  work 
on  the  Illinois  V/aterway  because  of  the  undenia-bly  high  costs  of 
labor  and  materials.  But  these  reasons  for  postponement  do  not 
hold  altogether  good  today.  Reductions  have  come  about  both  in 
labor  and  material,  and  the  present  is  as  auspicious  a time  as  any 
to  push  to  completion  the  project  that  will  directly  benefit 
6,500,000  people  in  Illinois  and  thousands  of  others  in  the  Miss- 
issippi Valley," 

Speaking  of  the  need  of  prompt  action  oil  the  part  of  Governor  Small 
in  completing  the  v/ork  of  the  Illinois  River  project.  Progress 
Reports,  for  April  28,  1922,  says:  "He  is  the  one  man  who  can  give 
us  a navigable  route  through  the  valley  within  three  years  and  he 
is  the  only  man  who  can  keep  us  from  having  it.  He  has  full 
authority  to  go  ahead  and  v/e  believe  the  work  should  not  be  delayec 
longer.  Every  day’s  delay  is  not  only  costing  the  business  men  of 
the  valley  dollars  and  cents,  but  is  costing  the  farmers  extra 
transportation  for  their  grain. " 


L 


W 

r 


-.-■f  ■' 


'iik.aa 


'i  u : 


-■  V (./  -• 


’rts'.'.L'.  ■'1 


J '. 


*)l  ,.j 


W' 


IC'  -''  ‘Jw 

i* 

IS.  . ■>."  ' 


V 


> .y,.  '.  ijfi'v  i 

1 I >]■  fe,'" 


. -ciysf^;.  -V'/ 


£ ' I 


f.K  ti'L 


\ 


■ : , U' 


ru^i' 


16. 


CHAPTER  III. 


WATER  TRANSPORTATION  COSTS 


The  commercial  and  agricultural  life  and  growth  of  the 
State  of  Illinois  depends  upon  the  proper  use  of  highv/ays  and  their 
costs  as  they  affect  producer  and  consumer.  There  are  four  major 
water- transportation  routes  of  great  interest  to  Illinois-- the  Miss- 
issippi River,  the  Great  Lakes,  the  Illinois  River  (which  when  im- 
proved v;ill  become  an  effective  link  betv/een  these  two),  and  the  Ohio 
River. 

The  pioneer  used  all  these  routes  freely.  The  first  great 
impetus  of  the  State  came  from  their  use,  and  thereby  Illinois  came 
to  be  of  such  importance  in  the  world  of  production  and  distribution 
that,  when  the  age  of  railways  arrived,  these  new  implements  of 
transportation  came  promptly  to  Illinois  and  gave  it  a greater  rail- 
way growth  than  that  enjoyed  by  other  regions.  It  became  the  greatesi 
railway  state  and  neglected  to  keep  up  the  v/ater  routes,  heedless  for 
the  time  of  fundamental  economics;  for  the  cost  of  conducting  trans- 
portation by  ships  and  barges  is  lower  than  is  possible  by  any  other 
known  means, ^ 

^The  number  of  miles  which  one  dollar  will  carry  a ton  of  freight  is 
frequently  given  for  the  various  transportation  agencies,  in  the 
following  form; 

Carrier  Miles  per  $1.0C 


Horse  and  Wagon 

4 

Auto  Truck 

20 

Railroad 

100 

New  York  Barge  Canal 

300 

European  Canals 

500 

Great  Lakes  Freighters 
Ohio  and  Mississippi  River, 

1000 

Downstream 

3000 

Cornish,  L.  D. , Assistant  Chief  Engineer,  Division  of  Waterways, 
State  of  Illinois.  Transportation  Costs,  p.  8. 


17. 

Now  that  freight  charges  are  such  an  increasing  part  of  the 
total  cost  of  bringing  producer  and  consumer  together,  Illinois  is 
wakening  anew  to  her  potential  advantages.  Excellent  judges  state 
the  average  freight  saving  per  ton  on  freight  which  would  move  by 
water  if  the  Illinois  Waterv/ay  was  in  use,  at  from  one- two  dollars 
per  ton.^  The  volume  of  frei^t  is  of  course  a factor  and  must  be 
taken  at  a conservative  estimate.  Of  the  many  millions  of  tons  now 
traversing  by  rail  practically  the  same  route,  how  much  will  naturall; 
and  with  economy  seek  the  v/ater  route?  No  one  can  say  with  mathemat- 
ical certainty,  but  some  of  our  best  posted  traffic  men  state  figures 

in  millions  of  tons.  Suppose  a thousand  tons  a day  is  taken  as  an 

2 

estimate  for  the  start  with  an  advance  within  twelve  years  to  fig- 
ures making  an  average  for  the  twelve  year  period  of  only  1,000,000 
tons  a year.  If  the  estimate  is  right  the  saving  on  freight  is 
$1,5000,000  a year. 

Farmers  today  can  ship  their  grain  by  rail  to  St.  Louis  and 
thence  by  water  down  the  Mississippi  River  to  seaboard,  at  a saving 
of  eight  cents  a bushel  below  any  rail  route  to  any  point  on  the 

3 

seacoast.  The  Mississippi-Warrior  service  has  a frei^t  traffic 

arrangement  with  the  railroads  by  which  every  community  in  Illinois 

receives  benefit,  of  twenty  percent  below  the  rail  rate,  from  this 

waterv/ay.  This  is  illustrated  graphically  by  Plate  III,  page  18. 

^Gardner,  H,  C,,  Commercial  Need  turns  to  Waterways.  Illinois  Journal 
of  Commerce,  June,  1321. 

2 

Twelve  years  is  the  period  elapsed  from  the  time  the  Illinois  Water- 
way was  authorized  until  work  was  actually  going  on,  (1908-1920). 
The  total  preventable  loss  to  society  according  to  this  estimate, 
v/as  $30,000,000  for  the  period, 

'^Barnes,  M,  G, , Speech  at  Henry,  Illinois,  June  17,  1921. 


:?i  ■ 

; « 

..  i-*;) 

At  i.'^ 


i ( 


< 


I 


/7/w>  am»rheu>^. 


The  average  saving  on  first  class  freight  in  the 
Red  Area.,,  is  30(^  per  cwt.  ; in  the  Green  Area  it 
is  about  21. 6<^;  and  in  the  Purple  Area  the  saving 
is  16.5(i  per  cwt. 


TERRITORY  GIVEN  LOW  TRANSPORTATION  COSTS  BY  THE 
MI3SISSIPPI-WARRI0R  SERVICE 


19. 


The  transportation  carried  on  by  this  Mississippi  River  service  is 
eighty  percent  Chicago  and  Illinois  business,  so  that  the  people  of 
Illinois  today  are  receiving  tv/enty  percent  differential  on  that 
benefit  because  a boat  line  comes  to  St.  Louis. ^ It  is  fair  to  as- 
sume that  the  saving  will  be  much  greater  when  the  waterway  is  com- 
pleted to  Chicago. 

The  average  freight  rate  on  all  railroads  in  the  United 

States  was  seven  and  a half  mills  per  ton-mile  for  a number  of  years 

and  a special  group  of  coal  roads  could  be  selected  upon  which  the 

2 

average  was  about  five  mills.  The  increases  in  freight  rates  during 
the  past  few  years  have  about  doubled  these  figures.  For  bulk  com- 
modities such  as  grain,  coal,  sand  and  gravel  on  roads  which  are  com- 
petitors of  the  Illinois  Waterway  and  Mississippi  River  between 

Chicago,  the  Illinois  Coal  Fields,  St.  Louis  and  New  Orleans,  the 

3 

present  rates  average  about  ten  mills  per  ton-mile. 


The  Government-fostered  river  service  representing  an  investment  of 
about  ^8,000,000  to  date,  makes  St.  Louis  virtually  a seaport  for 
export  shipments  by  way  of  New  Orleans.  Through  joint  rail  and 
water  rates  put  Mississippi  Valley  points  and  the  fertile  trade 
territory  tributary  to  the  river  into  direct  trade  communication 
with  St.  Louis  industries.  The  barge  rates  are  a flat  twenty 
percent  less  than  railroad  rates,  with  the  same  insurance  protec- 
tion, and  the  delivery  by  barge  can  be  made  as  quickly,  in  most 
cases,  as  by  rail.  This  saving  is  a distinct  advantage  in  close 
competition.  It  means  a profit  on  goods  which  otherwise  have  to 
be  sold  at  cost,  or  at  a loss,  to  hold  trade  in  competition.  The 
Mississippi  River,  as  a freight  carrier,  has  ’borne  back".  Before 
the  Civil  War,  in  the  hey-day  of  river  commerce,  3,149  wooden -hull 
stern-  and  side-wheel  packet  steamboats  of  twenty- six  tons  burden 
each,  plied  the  stream.  Their  total  carrying  capacity  is  exceeded 
by  the  more  than  forty  2,000-ton  modern  steel  barges  of  the  fleet 
novi  being  operated  between  St.  Louis  and  New  Orleans  v/ith  four 
steel  oil-bu.^ning  tunnel- type  towboats  of  1,800  rated  horsepower 
each.  The  barge  line  is  handling  a rapidly  increasing  tonnage  of 
great  variety,  and  is  gaining  in  popularity  with  shippers  of  all 
classes. 

2 

Final  Report  of  the  Industrial  Commission.  Vol.  XIX,  pp.  274-281. 

3 

This  figure  is  arrived  at  by  averaging  rates  taken  from  the  current 
tariffs. 


t'j  ^ 


'i* 

t 


20. 

On  the  Nev/  York  Barge  Canal  the  rate  on  such  commodities  is 
about  three  and  a third  mills,  while  on  several  European  canals  the 
rate  is  from  one  to  two  mills. ^ The  statistical  report  of  lake  com- 
merce passing  through  the  canals  at  Sault  Ste.  Marie  for  a number  of 
years,  shows  that  the  average  freight  charges  per  ton-mile  steadily 
decreased  to  a minimum  of  six-tenths  of  a mill  in  1914,  The  increas- 
ed costs  of  the  war  and  post-war  periods  caused  this  rate  to  increase 
until  it  averaged  one  and  a thiidmills  per  ton-mile  in  1920,  The 
average  for  the  past  twenty  years  has  been  0.82  mills.  Coal  is 
carried  at  cost  on  account  of  its  necessity  for  ballast,  so  making 
allowance  for  this,  a fair  average  rate  for  lake  traffic  is  one  mill 
per  ton-mile. 

What  haS:  been  done  and  is  being  done  at  the  present  time  by 
water  transportation,  is  shown  by  the  foregoing  paragraphs  and  the 
table  in  the  footnote  at  the  bottom  of  page  16,  The  people  of  Illi- 
nois however,  are  primarily  interested  in  what  the  Illinois  Waterwa^^ 
will  do  toward  providing  cheaper  transportation.  To  assume  that  the 
rates  on  similar  or  inferior  waterways  in  the  United  States  at  the 
present  time,  are  a measure  of  those  to  be  charged  on  the  Illinois 
ll/aterway  is  the  safest  method  of  arriving  at  the  probable  rates. 

The  navigable  Monongahela  River  reaches  seventy  miles  above 
Pittsburgh,  is  improved  for  eight  feet  draft  and  has  twin  locks  fifty- 
six  feet  by  360  feet.  The  single  fleet  lock  capacity  is  about  33-1/3 
percent  of  the  Illinois  Waterway  locks,  or  3000  tons.  In  recent  years 
1-Clapp,  E.  J.,  The  Uavigable  Rhine,  pp,  112-117. 

3U,S.  Statistical  Report  on  the  Sault  Ste,  Marie.  1921. 


' 'I'!.' K'"’,' 

, i"t>i  ’’'.i  (I,  ‘ . 


■ V'S  1 


'll . 

}. .', 

■ 1 


‘ - Xt*- 


r , 


y 

{ 

I 


' \ 


21 


the  traffic  on  this  river  has  been 


Year 

Tons 

1914 

10,374,000 

1915 

11,815,000 

1916 

12,876,000 

1917 

16,009,000 

1910 

16,538,000 

1919 

14,630,000 

1920 

20,718,000 

1921 

15,000,000 

as  follows:^ 

Value 

$20,714,000 

28,180,000 

35.673.000 

64.210.000 

64.720.000  80^  coal  &coke 
Coal  only 
Coal  only 
Coal  only-- 

Business 

Depressia 


The  barges  are  returned  empty,  the  coal  traffic  being  a one 


way  haul, 
including 
ment,  are 


The  government  figures  for  the  cost  of  hauling  this  coal, 
six  percent  interest  and  ten  percent  depreciation  on  equip- 


as  follows  per  ton-mile: 

2000  ton  fleet 

3000  ” " 

4000  " ” 

5000  « " 

6000  ’•  '• 


.2 


5.50  mills 
3.12  ” 

2.50  " 
2.00  ” 
1.68  " 


The  decrease  in  cost  as  the  size  of  the  cargo  increases,  indicates 
that  for  9000- ton  cargoes,  the  cost  would  be  about  one  mill  per  ton- 
mile. 


The  above  costs  are  for  a waterway  on  which  it  is  necessary 
to  separate  large  fleets  into  3000-ton  units  at  each  lock.  Inasmuch 
as  the  Illinois  V/aterway  locks  can  pass  9000-ton  fleets  in  a single 
lockage,  it  is  evident  that  the  cost  of  one  mill  per  ton-mile  should 
not  be  exceeded  on  such  commodities  as  coal,  ore,  sand,  gravel  and 
grain. 

No  one  will  dispute  the  claim  that  the  cost  of  water  trans- 
portation betv/een  Chicago  and  New  Orleans  or  long  hauls  to  inter- 
mediate points  will  not  exceed  the  profitable  rates  now  in  effect 
^Cornish,  L,  D. , Transportation  Costs,  p.  9. 

^Ibid.,p.  11. 


22 


betv/een  St.  Louis  and  New  Orleans,  on  the  basis  of  cost  per  ton-mile. 

The  small  added  cost  from  lockage  at  the  upper  end  of  the  haul,  will 

be  balanced  by  the  saving  effected  from  distributing  the  fixed 

charges  over  the  added  number  of  miles. 

The  government-operated  Mississippi-V/arrior  service  between 

St.  Louis  and  New  Orleans  has  steadily  improved  during  the  last  three 

years^  and  since  April  1,  1921,  has  shown  operating  results  before 

2 

deductions  for  depreciation  as  follows: 

April  to  August,  Profit  $324,681.10 

September  to  November,  Deficit  79 , 524.91 


245,356.19 

47.572.29 


Profit 

December,  Profit 
April  to  December,  1921,  Profit  $292,728.48^ 

Allowing  for  depreciation  at  ten  percent,  the  net  profit  to  the  Gov- 


ernment is  $263,455  for  the  nine  month  period,  or  a return  of  four 

and  a half  percent  on  the  investment  of  $8,000,000. 

The  present  equipment  can  handle  1,000,000  tons  of  freight 

4 

annually,  equal  to  40,000  freight  car  loads,  at  a saving  under  rail 

^In  the  Manufacturers  Record  of  Baltimore,  for  February,  1922,  Clark 
McAdams,  tells  us  that  almost  surreptitiously^,  during  the  Great 
War,  when  the  railroads  were  groaning  under  the  strain  put  upon 
them,  the  Government  spent  some  $8,000,000  for  equipment  in  re- 
storing the  Mississippi  to  the  status  of  a great  freight-carrying 
waterway.  The  barge  line  on  the  lower  Mississippi,  operating  thru 
the  first  years  with  inadequate  equipment,  lost  money,  but  the 
railroads  during  the  same  period  lost  $600,000,000.  The  barge  line 
in  its  first  year,  with  a small  temporary  fleet,  supplied  75,000,000 
ton-miles  of  transportation  service  and,  this  historian  assures  us, 
when  its  fleet  is  complete  it  will  furnish  1,000,000,000  ton-railes 
of  service  annually.  Following  the  war  the  Government  continued 
to  develop  its  barge  line.  In  the  five  months,  beginning  with  May, 
1921,  it  earned  $257,000  more  than  its  operating  expenses,  and  is 
declared  to  be  the  only  business  enterprise  in  which  the  Govern- 
ment engaged  during  the  War,  that  made  money. 

2 

Cornish,  L.  D. , Transportation  Costs,  p.  10. 

^Ibid. 

4lbid. 


K 


t 


? 


< 


* f *’1  r,^. 

I ' * 


i-  - . »^  « 


23. 

rates  of  $1.00  per  ton.^  Tow-boats  pulling  five  barges  each,  v/ith  a 
capacity  of  2,000  tons  to  a barge,  are  making  the  trip  from  St.  Louis 
to  New  Orleans  in  six  days  and  the  return  in  tv/elve  days.  It  was 
prematurely  estimated  that  traffic  upstream  would  be  only  sixty  per- 
cent of  the  dovm  stream  traffic.  Experience  has  proven  that  the 
traffic  is  about  equal;  that  the  molasses,  sugar,  oil,  and  sisal 

3 

going  north  has  the  same  tonnage  as  the  grain  going  south. 

The  Mississippi-Warrior  service  is  operated  under  a joint 

rail  and  water  rate  which  is  eighty  percent  of  the  rail  rate.  These 

rates  are  effective  over  a large  territory  bordering  the  river  and 

for  the  Northern  Zone,  shipments  are  by  rail  to  St,  Louis  or  Cairo 

thence  by  the  barge  line  to  New  Orleans  or  intermediate  points.  The 

shipper  save  twenty  percent  of  the  through  rail  rate,  but  his  saving 

is  entirely  at  the  expense  of  the  barge  line.  The  railroad  gets 

about  thirty-one  percent  of  the  full  through  rail  rates  for  its  280 

mile  haul  to  St,  Louis  and  the  barge  line  gets  what  is  left.  The 

result  of  this  is  that  the  barge  line  carries  a great  deal  of  freight 

from  St.  Louis  to  New  Orleans  at  figures  which  are  materially  less 

than  eighty  percent  of  the  rail  rate  betv/een  those  points. 

The  Barge  line  operating  costs  per  ton  for  the  fiscal  year 

ending  June  30,  1921,  v/ere  as  follov/s:^ 

Terminals  $1.73 

Hauling  1,69 

Damages  ,18 

General  , 52 

Total  .J4,i2 

^V/heat  in  the  Mississippi  Valley  has  been  worth  three  cents  a bushel 
more  to  farmers  the  past  year  than  it  would  have  been  except  for 
this  barge  line.  Current  Opinion,  April,  1922,  p.  544, 

^Ibid, 

3 Ibid. 

^These  figures  and  those  following,  b y L,  D.  Cornish. 


24 


Of  these,  haulage  varies  almost  directly  with  the  mileage  and  it  is 
reported  that  for  full  cargoes  this  item  is  less  than  one  and  five 
tenths  mills  per  ton-mile.  The  average  terminal  costs  and  damage 
claims  are  very  high  on  account  of  the  crude  way  of  handling  freight 
at  some  of  the  terminals.  Results  obtained  at  the  completed  modern 
terminals  give  assurance  that  the  terminal  costs  will  be  reduced  to 
^^l.OC  per  ton  and  damage  claims  to  below  the  railroad  average  of 
two  and  a half  percent  of  freight  receipts,  which  for  the  barge  line 
would  be  about  ten  cents  per  ton.^  The  traffic  and  general  expenses 
during  the  three  months  of  January,  February,  and  March,  1922,  v/ere 
reduced  to  thirty-one  cents.  These  items  plus  |51,69  for  haulage  cost 
aggregate  $3,10  as  a liberal  estimate  of  the  operating  expense  per 
ton  for  barge  transportation  costs  betv/een  St,  Louis  and  Nev/  Orleans. 
The  only  material  operating  cost  which  should  be  added  for  throu^ 
traffic  betv/een  ITew  Orleans  and  Chicago  is  the  haulage  cost  for  the 
additional  400  miles,  which  at  one  and  half  mills  per  ton-mile  amountE 
to  sixty  cents  per  ton.  The  operating  cost  betv/een  New  Orleans  and 
Chicago  may  therefore  be  assumed  as  not  exceeding  $3,70, 

The  possibilities  of  profit  to  transportation  companies  and 
lower  rates  to  shippers  is  indicated  by  the  last  column  in  the  follow- 
ing tables  v/hich  show  the  difference  between  $3,70  and  the  present 
Mississippi-Warrior  Service  Joint  rail  and  water  rates  per  ton.  This 
difference  is  v/ide  enough  to  Justify  the  claim  that  rates  on  this 
waterway  can  be  made  as  lov;  as  fifty  percent  of  present  rail  rates. 

It  should  be  kept  in  mind,  however,  that  any  reduction  of  rates  m*uch 
belov;  the  scale  now  in  force  for  the  Mississippi-V/arrior  Barge  Line 
would  probably  curtail  net  profits  and  decrease  the  return  to  the 

^This  statement  is  Justified  by  the  experience  of  the  St,  Louis-Kan- 
sas  City  Barge  line  whose  damage  claims  v;ere  seventy-five  percent 


: 'T 


' ■ .. 


• ' \ ^ 'i' 

• ' 1 . I i . 1’  . 


) .-  '’i  ‘ • I 


25. 

Government,  which  at  prasent  is  four  and  a half  percent  on  the  invest- 
ment. The  decrease  in  rates  could  vary  directly  with  increasing 
tonnage  until  capacity  was  reached,  the  return  on  the  investment  re- 
maining the  same. 

Future  reductions  in  the  cost  of  labor  and  materials  v/hich 
may  result  in  and  justify  lower  rail  rates  will  also  justify  lower 
water  rates.  The  cost  of  carrying  commodities  varies  greatly  v/ith 
their  character,^  therefore  the  figures  in  the  last  column  indicating 
the  margin  over  actual  cost  may  be  in  error  for  any  particular  item 
but  the  mean  figures  are  essentially  correct. 


less  per  :|1.00  of  freight  charges  than  those  of  the  competing 
Missouri  Pacific  Railv/ay  Company. 

^•'The  transportation  charge  on  the  mater^  entering  into  a pair  of 

shoes  made  in  a St.  Louis  factory  averages  one  and  one  fourth  cents 
The  transportation  charge  required  to  place  that  pair  of  shoes  in 
the  hands  of  a consumer  in  any  part  of  the  United  States  averages 
between  two  and  three  cents.  The  freight  rates  on  cantaloups  to 
New  York  range  from  less  than  a cent  a melon  from  the  Carolinas  to 
about  two  and  one  half  cents  for  that  from  California.  The  freight 
charge  paid  on  the  apparel  of  a fully  dressed  man  or  v/oman  would 
range  from  six  or  seven  to  sixteen  or  eighteen  cents. ”--McPherson, 
L.  G. , Railroad  Freight  Rates,  pp.  49-52. 

"The  freight  on  a dining-room  suite  selling  for  ^75,  is  a little 
over  two  dollars. "--The  Freight  Rate  Primer.  National  Prosperity 
Association,  St.  Louis. 

Prom  the  above  examples  it  is  easy  to  see  how  widely  the  percentage 
of  freight  rate  varies  to  the  tofal  value  of  the  shipment.  In 
general,  the  relation  the  freight  rate  bears  to  the  value  of  the 
article  is  a small  percentage  in  the  case  of  hi^  value  articles 
of  small  bulk,  and  a large  percentage  for  articles  of  small  value 
but  large  bulk. 


26. 


FREIGHT  RATES  PER  TON  C.L. 
Chicago  to  New  Orleans^ 


Rail 

Rates 

Mississippi 

V/arrior 

Mi SB. War 
Less  Cos 

1913 

1921 

1921 

of 

$3.70 

Agricultural  Implements 

$ 

7.20 

$12.00 

$ 9.90 

$ 

6.20 

Canned  Goods 

7.00 

11.70 

9.70 

6.00 

Dried  Fruit* 

8.20 

21.80 

17.90 

14.20 

Glucose 

5.00 

8.40 

7.10 

3.40 

Packing  House  Products 

7.80, 

13.10 

10.90 

7.20 

Paints,  Red  and  White  Lead 

5.60 

9.30 

7.80 

4.10 

Rails 

7.60 

6.30 

5.60 

1.90 

Salt 

4.60 

7.70 

6.60 

2.90 

Soap 

6.20 

10.40 

8.70 

5.00 

Starch 

7.00 

11.70 

9.70 

6.00 

Steel,  structural 

5.60 

9.30 

7.80 

4.10 

Stoves  and  Ranges 

8.80 

14.70 

12.20 

8.50 

Varnishes 

8.20 

13.70 

11..4C 

7.70 

Mean 

$ 

7.44 

$11.56 

$ 9.64 

5.94 

Corn  for  Export 

$ 

4.00 

$ 7.90 

$ 5.38 

$ 

1.68 

Wheat  for  Export 

4.00 

7.90 

5.68 

1.96 

Mean  for  Grain 

4.00 

$ 7.90 

$ 5.53 

$ 

1.83 

New 

Orleans  to 

Chicago^ 

Canned  Goods 

$ 

6.40 

$10.70 

$ 8.90 

$ 

5.20 

Coffee^ 

5.00 

12.00 

9.70 

6.00 

Cotton'^  2 

10.34 

21.90 

21.10 

17.40 

Dried  Fruit"^ 
Fresh  Fish‘d 

7.80 

21.80 

17.90 

14.20 

11.00 

18.20 

14.90 

11.20 

Glucose 

5,80 

9.70 

8.1C„ 

4.40 

Lumber 

5.10 

8.40 

6.90*^ 

3.20 

Petroleum 

4.60 

7.30 

6.10 

2.40 

Rice 

7.00 

11.70 

9.80 

6.10 

Sisal  (Import) 

5.60 

10.30 

7.10 

3.40 

Sugar 

4.86 

12.00 

9.60_ 

5.90 

Steel,  Structural 

6.00 

10.00 

7.00^ 

3.30 

Mean 

1 

6.62 

$12.83 

$10.59 

6.89 

^Current  Published  Joint  Tariffs 
2 

For  such  high  value  articles  as  these,  the  figures  in  the  last 
column  are  probably  considerably  too  high, 

^Estimated  Rates 


5 


27 


The  average  joint  rate  from  Chicago  to  New  Orelans  on  wheat 
and  corn  for  export  is  i|5.53  per  ton.  Of  this  the  railroad  gets 
$2,65  per  ton  for  a 280  mile  haul  or  nine  and  a half  mills  per  ton- 
mile  and  the  Barge  Line  gets  $2.68  per  ton  for  a 1200  mile  water  haul 
or  two  and  four  tenth  mills  per  ton-mile.  The  all  rail  distance  from 
Chicago  to  New  Orleans  is  920  miles  and  the  all  rail  export  rate  on 
grain  is  $7.90  per  ton  or  eight  and  six  tenth  mills  per  ton-mile. 

For  coraraodities  other  than  grain,  lumber  and  Birmingham 
steel  shown  in  the  foregoing  table,  the  average  joint  rail  and  water 
rate  is  $10,35  per  ton  of  which  the  railroad  gets  $3,85  per  ton  or 
13.8  mills  per  ton-mile  and  the  Barge  line  $6,50  or  five  and  four 
tenth  mills  per  ton-mile.  These  authentic  figures  show  that  the 
government  barge  line  can  carry  freight  at  a profit  for  about  one- 
third  the  ton-mile  rail  rates  now  in  effect.  When  the  Illinois 
Waterv/ay  is  completed  and  modern  barge  lines  established  between 
Chicago  and  New  Orleans  better  results  can  be  obtained. 


SI  ,V‘'^ 


' , V;r^-r,;  — “"  ' ' ' * 

’ '^v  ' ' f ' ''v^i'  ■' 

■•  - , . >"  . ■ ',.>  ^ w4 


¥■'•  ' ..'■'i  .'  «r.'si:>r  :#t»«l''’'  ^ 


‘ 


-/■S^.',*’  'frjil  S^SV:i 

» 

ill  ' 

ll 


>M  V 


,1' ; i 


„.. . /.y  o«-dt  -*■  .5*’^-'  ^ 1 

^*prU<y.,x^  iir-^  If 

.,«  . -1  ••  ' . ..'  'v  . ....^u.r  '' . ,fi  » ,«•.  . r i'*:-.i-«j^'i«i4ik’»ir.k4j?:& 


28. 

CHAPTER  IV. 

COMIOIRCIAL  ASPECTS 

If  commerce  were  dependent  entirely  upon  v/ater  transporta- 
tion, the  commercial  strategic  value  of  the  Illinois  Waterway  would 
he  excelled  only  by  the  Suez  and  Panama  Canals,  a.nd  Chicago  would 
be  the  metropolis  of  the  world. ^ The  valley  of  the  Mississippi 
River  and  its  tributaries  is  the  most  productive  region  in  the  world 

p 

for  food,  forest,  mine  and  manufactured  products.^  Witli  the  excep- 
tion of  the  Soo  Locks  and  channels  connecting  Laike  Superior  and  Lake 
Huron  and  the  canalization  of  the  Monongahela  River  for  seventy  miles 
above  Pittsburgh,  no  other  waterv/ay  in  the  United  States  ever  had  as 
bright  prospects  for  developing  capacity  tonnage  as  has  the  Illinois 

3 

?/aterway. 

This  waterv/ay  is  comparable  with  the  waist  of  an  hour  glass 
connecting  the  Great  Lakes-St.  Lawrence-New  York  Barge  Canal  Systems, 
the  North  Atlantic  Ports  and  Europe,  with  the  Mississippi  River 
System  of  15,000  miles  of  inland  waterway,  the  Gulf  Ports,  South 
America,  the  Orient  and  our  West  Coast  States.  It  will  have  a capac- 
ity of  60,000,000  tons  a year. 

^Barnes,  M.  G. , The  Illinois  Waterway,  p.  2. 

2 

Statistics  of  the  Depart  of  Commerce  show  that  eighteen  tons  of 
products  originate  each  year  for  each  person  in  the  United  States. 
As  the  Mississippi  Valley  is  the  greatest  producing  area,  twenty 
tons  is  a low  figure  for  this  section.  The  population  of  this 
section  is  60,000,000  and  on  this  basis  its  product  is  1,200 
million  tons.  Ibid. , p.  15. 

3 

The  tonnage  per  year  through  the  Soo  locks  for  a period  of  25  years 
from  1891  to  1916  increased  from  9,000,000  to  91,888,219  tons,  an 
average  increase  of  3,320,000  tons  per  year.  Traffic  fell  off 
during  the  war  period  but  the  average  for  the  past  five  yea.rs  has 


•'*  . ' 


r " 


\ V 

M 


i 


4 

5(i 


) 

t 

<v 


K € 


Geologic  Structure  Along  the  Waterway. 

The  geologic  map  of  Illinois  shows  the  course  of  the 


29 


Illinois  Waterway  to  be  throu^  a part  of  the  state  well  endowed  by 
nature  with  economic  products,^  From  Chicago  at  the  northern  termi- 
nus as  far  as  Millsdale  v/est  of  Joliet,  the  course  is  through  a sec- 
tion whose  geologic  content  is  dolomite,  used  for  building,  furnace 
flux,  concrete  and  road  making.  Next  comes  about  six  miles  of  shale 
for  paving  brick  and  sewer  pipe;  clay  for  pottery  and  tile;  and  stone 
for  building,  road  making  and  concrete.  From  this  section  to  a point 
about  five  miles  east  of  Ottawa,  the  formation  is  carboniferous  of 
the  second  Pennsylvanian  type,  containing  workable  coal  beds;  lime- 
stone and  clay  for  Portland  cement;  clay  and  shale  for  building  and 
paving  brick,  sewer  pipe,  pottery  and  tile;  stone  for  building; 
mineral  v/aters;  and  occasionally  salt. 

The  next  geologic  section  stretches  on  to  La  Salle  and  is 
the  one  containing  the  famous  Ottawa  sand  for  glass  making,  moulding 
and  building.  The  area  of  the  formation  is  not  unlike  a gigantic 
lizard  in  shape  v/ith  the  head  and  tail  pointing  to  the  north.  The 
course  of  the  waterway  splits  the  body  almost  squarely  in  the  middle. 

From  La  Salle  almost  as  far  as  Eeardstown,  the  formation  is  again 

2 

carboniferous  and  is  rich  in  coal,  shales,  clays,  and  stone  of  corn- 

been  81,000,000  tons  of  which  55,000,000  tons  was  Bast  bound  iron 
ore  for  Eastern  States  and  the  Seaboard  and  16,000,000  tons  of 
Eastern  coal  to  supply  the  Northwest  states.  The  traffic  on  the 
Monongahela  River  ha,s  now  reached  the  capacity  of  the  locks  and 
araounted  to  24,000,000  tons  in  1921  of  which  21,000,000  tons  was 
coal . --Barnes , M.  G. , The  Illinois  V/aterwav.  p,  12, 

^Illinois  State  Geological  Survey,  Bulletin  No,  1,  The  Geoloa:ical 
Map  of  Illinois. 

^In  the  neighborhood  of  La  Salle  and  Peru  as  far  as  Spring  Valley,  at 
Sparland,  from  Peoria  to  a point  fifteen  or  tv/enty  miles  south  of 
Pekin,  and  again  near  Rushville,  coal  mines  now  being  worked,  line 
the  banks  of  the  Illinois  River . --Peabodv  Atlas,  Illinois  Coal 
^ :Fieids.  — ^ 


I 


t 


! ' 

f 


1 


I I 


\ 


% 


1 


I 

f I 


( 


C 


t 


r f 


» 

I 

» 

\ 


» 


30. 

mercial  importance,  Plate  IV,  page  31,  shows  the  section  of  the 
state  containing  coal. 

The  formation  from  Beards town  on  dovm  to  Grafton  is  carbon- 
iferous of  the  Mississippian  type,  as  is  that  on  the  Illinois  side  of 
the  Mississippi  River  from  Grafton  most  of  the  way  to  Cairo,  and  con- 
tains limestone  and  oolite  for  building;  stone  for  lime,  concrete, 
riprap,  and  road  making;  and  limestone  and  shale  for  PoitLand  cement. 
Near  the  southern  end  of  the  state  this  formation  shov/s  veins  of 
fluorspar,  lead,  zinc  and  baryta;  mineral  waters;  and  some  salt. 

In  the  territory  contiguous  to  the  Mississippi  and  Ohio 
Rivers  near  Cairo,  another  good  sized  deposit  of  glass-making  sand  is 
found.  Silica,  green  sand  for  fertilizer,  limestone,  clay,  and  grave! 
for  ballast  and  road  making  are  also  there  in  abundance. 

Cities  Along  the  Waterway. 

Chicago 

The  fact  that  Chicago  is  the  greatest  distributing  center 
in  the  United  States,  makes  the  use  of  the  waterway  to  capacity  ton- 
nage an  assured  fact  as  long  as  frei^it  rates  are  low  enough.  Chicagc 
now  consumes  30,000,000  tons  of  coal  per  annum  and  the  consumption  is 
increasing  at  the  rate  of  1,000,000  tons  annually.^  About  half  of  this 
coal  comes  from  Southern  Illinois  mines  within  forty  miles  of  navi- 
gable water.  Coal  from  these  mines  can  be  delivered  to  Chicago  by 
water  for  $1,00  per  ton  less  than  present  freight  rates,  consequently 
a large  coal  tonnage  through  the  waterway  can  be  depended  upon.  M.  G, 
Barnes,  Chief  Engineer  of  the  Division  of  Waterways  of  the  State  of 
Illinois,  states  in  a report  to  the  General  Assembly  of  the  State, 
that  he  has  been  approached  by,  and  has  held  many  conferences  with 
^U.  S.  Census,  1920, 


31. 

PLATF.  IV. 


GOAL  IN  ILLINOIS 


25%  of  all  household  bituminous  coal  shippod  from  mines  in  the 
United  States  comes  from  Illinois. 

fphe  coal  source  is  an  important  considei'at ion  in  the  location 
of  industries. 


r 


32. 

officials  of  various  corporations  seeking  information  relative  to 
terminal  facilities,  fleet  capacity  of  the  waterway,  and  date  of  com- 
pletion. He  asserts  that  the  aggregate  tonnage  throu^  the  waterway 
for  which  these  corporations  are  planning  totals  15,000,000  tons  of 
coal  and  5,000,000  tons  of  ore. 

The  steel  mills  of  the  Chicago  and  Gary  districts  receive 
annually  by  lake  about  8,000,000  tons  of  iron  ore  and  the  freighters 
which  bring  it  return  empty.  With  Illinois  coal  costing  one  dollar 
less  per  ton  than  the  present  price,  freighters  could  make  a rate 
for  delivery  at  upper  lake  ports  and  compete  successfully  with 
freighters  carrying  Eastern  coal,^ 

In  1920  Illinois  produced  about  214,000,000  bushels  of  grain 
from  the  area  within  forty  miles  of  the  Illinois  Waterway.*^  In  1921 
the  Port  of  Chicago  shipped  78,000,000  bushels  of  corn  by  Great  Lakes 
water  carriers.  This  quantity  equals  sixty-three  percent  of  the  1920 
corn  production  of  the  state  v/ithin  forty  miles  of  the  waterway.  It 
will  be  possible  to  haul  the  export  portion  of  the  grain  produced  in 
this  area,  by  trucks  to  the  waterway  and  in  barges  to  eitborChicago 
or  Hew  Orleans  at  rates  materially  lower  than  rail  rates, 

Chicago  lumber  receipts  and  shipments  for  1907  were 
3,457,204,000  feet,  and  for  1917  were  4,873,000,000  feet  of  which 

3 

receipts,  1,500,000,000  feet  were  from  Southern  States  and  which 
could  more  cheaply  move  by  v/ay  of  the  Illinois  Waterway. 

^Barnes,  M,  G, , Commercial  Aspects  of  the  Illinois  Waterway,  p.  13. 

^This  estimate  was  arrived  at  by  the  use  of  figures  from  the  1920 
U.  S,  Census. 

^U,  S.  Census,  1920. 


'i 

/ 

it 

i 

*,1 

,1 


» 


..•■  < 

I 

fv  j 

».■ 

i%>!  ■ '' . 


? I 


' < 


V? 


j. 

J; 


i 


< < « 


T ^ 


? < ^ 


i 


33 


Joliet. 

Joliet,  with  its  environs,  has  a population  of  some  60,000, 
Its  most  numerous  industry  is  the  quarrying  and  crushing  of  stone. 

The  industry  employing  the  greatest  number  of  people  is  steel.  For 
.Instance,  wire,  rods,  railroad  spikes,  angle  bars,  nuts  and  bolts  are 
made  in  Joliet  cheaper  than  any  other  place  in  the  world.  There  are 
more  wallpaper  mills  in  Joliet  than  in  any  other  city  this  side  of 
the  Allegheny  mountains.  The  largest  art  calendar  factory  in  the 
world  is  in  Joliet.  There  are  numerous  agricultural  and  other 
machinery-making  establishments.  There  are  also  railroad  shops,  wire 
mills,  horseshoe,  toe-calk,  automobile,  chemical,  matches,  coke,  car- 
ton and  box-raaking  industries.^ 

Joliet  is  an  important  railroad  point.  In  the  accounts  of 

the  Michigan  Central  Railroad  it  is  of  greater  iE?)ortance  than  Chi- 
2 

cago.  The  dam  at  Brandon  Road  will  create  a large  pool  probably  a 
lalf  mile  wide  affording  anchorage  for  vessels  and  a lay-up  point  for 
svinter  and  repairs.  The  Chicago,  Rock  Island  and  Pacific,  the  Santa 
Pe  and  the  Chicago  and  Alton  Railroads  have  ready  access  to  this 
Brandon  pool  and  will  doubtless  find  it  to  their  interest  to  construct 
tracks  alongside  it.  The  Chicago  Outer  Belt  line^ — the  Elgin,  Joliet 
ind  Eastern  Railroad--crosses  the  main  channel  and  already  has  tracks 
ilong  its  shores.  The  natural  sequence  is  that  great  quantities  of 
freight  will  be  broken  in  Joliet  and  shipments  made  from  that  point. 

The  Association  of  Commerce  of  Joliet  cites  as  evidence  of 
the  tendency  of  the  Illinois  V/aterway  to  act  as  a loadstone  to  manu- 
facturing interests,  the  fact  that  a Chicago  broker  during  the  summer 
^Information  supplied  by  the  Association  of  Comraerce  of  Joliet. 

^Gardner,  H,  C. , Commercial  Need  Turns  to  Waterways.  Illinois  Journal 
of  Coitimerce,  June,  1921. 


I' 

t : 


t 


i 

■a 

\ 


I 

I 

1' 

! 

'( 


I 


i 

} 

I 


.’I 


.k. 


t 


34. 

of  1921,  when  work  at  last  was  started  on  the  waterway,  requested  the 
Association  to  assist  him  in  finding  suitable  buildings  for  three 
manufacturing  plants.  Buildings  having  about  30,000  feet  of  floor 
space  were  desired.^ 

Another  great  saving  will  follow  in  the  wake  of  the  comple- 
tion of  this  canal.  Cars  destined  for  interior  and  north  side  points 
in  the  city  of  Chicago  will  be  run  onto  great  sv/itching  barges  and 
instead  of  taking  weeks  in  finding  their  destinations  and  in  many 
cases,  being  totally  lost,  will  get  to  their  consignees  in  a single 
day.  In  other  words  the  Sanitary  Canal  will  become  a great  switching 
yard  for  many  railroads. 

Ottawa 

Ottawa,  situated  at  the  confluence  of  the  Illinois  and  Pox 
Rivers,  is  within  the  bounds  of  La  Salle  county.  This  county  ranks 
second  in  Illinois  and  fifth  in  the  United  States  in  value  of  agri- 

p 

cultural  products,  Within  a ten-mile  radius  of  the  city  is  found 

the  highest  grade  of  silica  moulding  sand  and  glass  sand  in  America. 

This  is  the  commercially  famous  Ottawa  sand,  large  quantities  of  which 

are  used  by  every  steel  company  and  foundry  from  St.  Louis  to  Gary 

and  to  points  along  the  Ohio  River  and  the  Great  Lakes.  There  are 

twenty  plants  in  and  about  the  city  that  depend  entirely  upon  the 

mining  of  silica  sand,  and  the  approximate  mined  tonnage  annually  is 

about  one  million  tons.  V/ith  the  waterway  opened  it  is  esti;aated  that 

this  district  will  ship  5,000,000  tons  annually.^ 

^Illinois  Journal  of  Commerce.  August,  1921. 

2 

'"Hill,  H,  T.  , General  Secretary,  Illinois  Chamber  of  Commerce,  Illi- 
nois Journal  of  Comraerce,  July,  1921. 

Sibid. 


1 r Nv 


35 


Along  the  hanks  of  the  waterway  in  this  neighborhood  are 
found  also,  inexhaustible  deposits  of  sand  and  gravel  mixed  by  nature 
in  the  proper  proportions  for  concrete  so  that  after  separation  by 
screening  there  remains  a ver2/  small  percentage  of  waslP  material, 
Chicago's  annual  consumption  of  sand  and  gravel  is  over  3,000,000 
cubic  yards, ^ 

La  Salle 

At  the  head  of  navigation  on  the  Illinois  River,  is  La  Salle 

a city  of  13,000  people  and  the  trading  center  of  a section  with 

2 

50.000  residents.  The  industrial  directory  of  the  city  includes 
zinc  smelters  and  rolling  mills,  cement  mills,  clock  works,  chemical 
plants,  a machine  and  tool  factory,  brick  and  tile  plants,  an  artifi- 
cial  ice  factory,  and  coal  mines  in  the  environs,'^ 

Speaking  before  nearly  200  representative  business  men  of 
Illinois  on  June  16,  1921,  when  they  were  participating  in  a confer- 
ence held  in  various  cities  along  the  Illinois  River  for  the  purpose 
of  advancing  the  cause  of  the  Illinois  Waterway,  Mayor  P.  E,  Coleman 
of  La  Salle  said  in  part: 

"It  may  be  surprising  to  you  to  know  that  from  La  Salle 
there  is  shipped  out  annually  approximate Ijt-  5,000,000  tons  of  freight. 
Our  cement  plants,  three  in  number,  produce  annually  about  1,500,000 
tons.  Our  coal  mines,  in  addition  to  supplying  the  local  industries, 
ship  to  consumers  elsewhere  approximately  750,000  tons  of  coal.  Our 
zinc  plants  are  also  producing  great  quantities  of  zinc,  about 

150.000  tons  each  year,  and  when  you  take  into  consideration  the  fact 
that  on  a pre-war  basis  the  annual  production  of  zinc  in  the  world  was 
^Barnes,  M.  G, , Commercial  Aspects  of  the  Illinois  Waterway,  p.  13. 

^U.  S.  Census,  1920, 

^Report  of  the  La  Salle  Chamber  of  Commerce.  1921.  _ 


36 


about  350,000  tons,  you  can  readily  realize  that  in  the  zinc  world 
at  least  this  communi tj'-  is  an  important  factor,” 

The  freight  tonnage  of  the  La  Salle  district  is  fourth  in 
the  state.  Only  Chicago,  East  St.  Louis  and  Peoria  outrank  La  Salle 
in  heavy  shipping.  A large  proportion  of  the  manufactured  products 
of  this  district  is  made  up  of  heavy  commodities,  such  as  coal,  cemen 
sand,  gravel  and  manufactured  zinc,  as  v;ell  as  agricultural  implement 
and  the  products  of  foundries.  This  part  of  the  valley  is  also  a 
fertile,  productive  region  and  the  movement  of  agricultural  products 
is  heavy. 

With  river  improvement  and  the  canal  connection,  the  La 
Salle  district  can  move  a portion  of  the  five  million  tons  of  heavy 
commodities  in  and  out  by  water  and  thus  relieve  the  congestion  that 
often  occurs  on  the  railroads.  This  city  would  then  becone  a river 
port  for  the  shipment  of  commodites  that  would  come  in  from  the  North 
to  be  transferred  to  boats  and  barges^  (See  the  map  on  page  9,  for 
the  strategic  geographical  location  of  La  Salle.) 

Near  the  city  is  Starved  Rock  in  the  Illinois  State  Park,  a 
site  of  historic  interest  to  every  resident  of  the  state,  for  it  was 
from  this  point  that  La  Salle  and  Tonti  conducted  their  important 
civilizing  operations  for  their  royal  Erench  master. 

Peoria 

Peoria,  the  fifth  city  of  great  industrial  importance,  is 
midway  between  Chicago  and  the  mouth  of  the  Illinois  River  at  Grafton 
Her  grain  business  annually  amounts  to  $50 , 000 , 000, her  beef  packing 
industry  to  $35,000,000,  her  wholesale  and  jobbing  upwards  of 
^Illinois  Journal  of  Coramerce,  June,  1921, 


■r 


37 


$45,000,000,  her  retail  industry  upwards  of  $35,000,000. 

Over  six  hundred  plants  manufacture  over  one  thousand 
articles,  employ  20,000  people,  ha.ve  a total  annual  payroll  of  $8,000 
000,  and  a total  annual  product  of  $200,000,000.  In  1910,  after  care^ 
ful  estimate,  it  v;as  figured  that  Peoria  was  turning  out  $04,000,000 
Y/orth  of  goods  a year.  A recent  survey  hy  outside  experts  estimated 
that  the  annual  product  amounted  to  $200,000,000.^ 

Peoria  is  situated  in  a rich  agricultural  a.nd  coal  area, 
and  is  the  terminus  of  fourteen  steam  railroads  and  three  electric 
lines.  Its  chief  industry  is  the  production  of  agricultural  imple- 
ments and  tractors,  paper  and  paper  products,  wire  and  steel,  metal 
and  foundry  supplies,  stoves  and  furnaces,  cereal  products,  "beef 
products,  textiles,  rope  and  cordage. 

Alton  on  the  Mississippi,  and  St.  Louis  the  focal  point  of 
the  waterway  system  of  the  United  States,  as  well  as  many  other 
nothern  and  southern  Mississippi  River  points,  and  cities  on  the  Ohio 
and  Missouri  Rivers,  will  contribute  to  the  Illinois  Waterway  tonnage. 

Important  Industries  and  natural  Resources. 

During  the  year  1921  and  part  of  1922,  the  Illinois  Journal 
of  Commerce  ran  a series  of  articles  on  features  of  the  state,  entitl- 
ed, ”What  Illinois  is  Proud  of”.  The  articles  dealt  v;ith  the  most 
outstanding  of  the  many  important  industries  and  natural  resources  of 
great  commercial  value  possessed  by  the  state. 

An  article  on  Coal  by  Dr.  P.  C.  Honnold,  Secretary-Treasurer 
rilinois  Coal  Operators  Association,  appeared  in  the  June,  ].921,  issue 
It  appears  from  his  article,  that  although  coal  is  produced  from  938 
'■Pigures  furnished  by  the  Association  of  Commerce  of  Peoria,  1921, 


38. 


mines  in  fifty- three  of  the  102  counties  in  Illinois,  it  is  shipped 
by  rail  from  onl^'-  373  of  these  mines  located  in  thirty-eight  counties 
the  other  565  mines  being  small  and  supplying  only  local  needs. 

Plate  V,  page  39,  shows  the  production  of  coal,  in  a graphical  manner, 
in  such  of  the  thirty-eight  counties  producing  1,000,000  or  more  tons 
annually. 

The  373  shipping  coal  mines  in  Illinois  are  served  by  forty 
railroads  whose  combined  tonnage  for  all  farm  and  forestry’’  products 
and  all  metals  transported  by  them  does  not  equal  the  coal  they 
handle. 

The  six  major  coal  carrying  lines  in  Illinois  and  their 
annual  tonnage  of  coal  hauled  is; 

Tons  Percentage  of 

Railroad  Counties  Mines  Shipped  Freight  Handled 


Illinois  Central 

21 

110 

9,500,000 

44.6 

Chicago,  Burlington, &Q,uincy 

11 

65 

9,250,000 

36.2 

Big  Four 

8 

37 

4,600,000 

50.4 

Chicago  & Alton 

9 

30 

2,500,000 

41.3 

Chicago  & Eastern 

Illinois 

6 

28 

2,300,000 

60.4 

Missouri  Pacific 

2 

30 

2,100,000 

---- 

During  the 

past  fifteen  year 

s,  Franklin  County, 

southern 

Illinois,  and  v/ithin  forty  miles  of  the  Mississippi  and  Ohio  Rivers, 

has  grown  to  be  the  World's  largest  coal  producing  county'".  There  v;er€ 

in  1921  twenty-six  coal  mines,  producing  during  the  year  12,000,000 

tons.  At  that  time,  although  practically  every  acre  of  mineral  rights 

had  been  purchased,  only  a small  area  had  been  mined  out.  Hundreds 

2 

of  thousands  of  acres  v/ere  still  undeveloped. 

Franklin's  coal  history  reads  like  the  record  of  a treasure 
hunt.  In  1892  a few  of  the  citizens  of  the  county  seat  town  of  Ben- 
ton drilled  for  coal.  After  going  to  a depth  of  584  feet  they  became 
^Hcnnold,  F.  C.,  Illinois  Journal  of  Commerce,  June,  1921. 

^Snyder,  J.  D. , Secretary  of  the  Benton  Commercial  Club,  Franklin 


nrmn  + -vr*c!  Tlo  Tr  1 n -nr-,  o n + TTInririio  .Tr\nr>nQl  ri-T  <=>  T*r>  f.  fimV.  PT"  1 Cfi' 


t 


I 


< 


c 


t 


( 


40 


discouraged  and  abandoned  the  hole.  The  drill,  at  the  time  they 
stopped,  was  within  fifty  feet  of  discovering  a real  Eldorado  for 
this  section  of  the  country.  The  next  prospecting  v/as  done  a few 
years  later  by  Captain  V/.  P.  Halliday,  of  Cairo.  The  results  of  his 
prospecting,  however,  were  not  disclosed  until  long  after  his  death. 
He  had  discovered  the  great  coal  deposits  from  which  the  Central  and 
many  of  the  Western  states  were  to  be  supplied  for  the  next  century. 
Captain  Halliday  had  expected  to  purchase  100,000  acres  in  the  heart 
of  Franklin  County. 

Joseph  Letter  became  familiar  v/ith  the  great  coal  deposits 
and  purchased  about  10,000  acres  upon  which  was  located  the  famous 
Leiter  mine.  Scores  of  similar  tracts  have  since  been  purchased  by 
coal  corporations,  until  at  the  present  time  there  are  very  few  acres 
of  Franklin  Countj^  coal  land  unsold. 

The  largest  coal  mine  in  the  world  is  located  at  Orient 
and  owned  by  the  Chicago,  Wilmington  & Franklin  Coal  Company,  The 
world’s  largest  coal  washer  is  located  at  Benton,  owned  b^''  the  United 
States  Steel  Corporation.^’ 

Franklin  County  coal  is  fast  supplanting  the  Hocking  coal 
from  Ohio,  the  Splint  coal  from  "West  Virginia,  and  the  Pittsburgh 
coal  in  the  northw^est  and  south.  During  the  war  it  was  substituted 
in  the  northern  states  for  anthracite.  Recent  investigations  have 
disclosed  that  it  is  a coking  coal  of  high  quality,  so  valuable  as  a 
metallurgical  coke  that  the  United  States  Steel  Corporation  purchased 

p 

40,000  acres  v/ith  a view  to  using  it  in  its  by-product  ovens  at  Gary 

^Snyder,  J.  D, , Franklin  County’s  Development.  Illinois  Journal  of 
Commerce,  Septem.ber,  1921, 

2 


Ibid, 


41 


and  South  Chicago. 

Illinois  Coal  is  sold  for 

quantities  in  some  fourteen  states, 

tive  amount,  in  about  the  following 

Illinois 
Missouri 
Iowa 

Wisconsin 
Minnesota 
Indiana 
Michigan 
Nebraska 
South  Dakota 
Miscellaneous 


commercial  use  in  substantial 

and  in  round  numbers,  as  to  rela 
1 

order : 

30.000. 000 

8.500.000 

4.000. 000 

2.500.000 

2.200.000 

1,500,000 

750.000 

350.000 

200.000 

2.000. 0CQ 

52.000. 000 


In  addition  to  the  above,  the  sale  of  coal  to  railroads,  anc 
the  production  of  coal  by  industrial  companies  for  their  own  use, 
amounts  each  year  to  about  32,000,000  tons,  which  makes  up  the  aver- 
age production  of  a norrrial  year,  or  about  60,000,000  tons. 

'•Present  Illinois  coal  mines  have  an  annual  productive  ca- 
pacity of  125,000,000  tons  if  v^orked  300  days  of  eight  hours  each. 

The  coal  is  alv/ays  there  to  load,  and  except  in  rare  cases,  plenty 

2 

of  miners  to  dig  and  load  it." 

Economic  Saving  Through  Handling  Coal  by  Water. ^ 

It  has  been  estimated  that  upon  the  completion  of  the 

Illinois  Waterway,  15,000,000  tons  of  coal  will  seek  transport  over 

the  Illinois  and  Mississippi  Rivers  to  Chicago  and  points  north. 

Should  this  take  place  much  railroad  property  required  in  normal  times 

will  be  released  for  the  transportation  of  other  commodities.  An 

estimate  of  the  cost  of  such  property  is  obtained  in  the  following 

^Honnold,  P.  C.,  Illinois  Journal  of  Commerce,  June,  1921. 

2 

Ibid 

^Barnes,  M.  G. , The  Illinois  Waterway,  p.  16. 


V3 


< 5 


r 


42 


manner : 

Most  of  the  Illinois  coal  that  reaches  Chicago  comes  from 
the  southern  counties  and  from  the  Springfield  district,  distances 
ranging  from  180  to  300  miles  by  rail  or  a.n  average  of  say  240  miles. 
The  average  rate  of  speed  for  cars  on  railroads  in  the  United  States 
is  about  thirty  miles  per  day  and  the  capacity  of  coal  cars  is  about 
fifty  tons.  It  is  estimated  that  loaded  trains  v;ill  be  made  up  of 
forty  cars  and  empties  of  eighty  cars.  Under  these  assumptions  the 
following  figures  are  derived.  One  car  v/ould  make  23  round  trips 
per  year  (assuming  constant  use)  and  haul  1,150  tons  per  annum.  It 
would,  therefore,  require  13,040  cars  and  200  locomotives  to  trans- 
port 15,000,000  tons  of  coal  to  Chicago.  The  value  of  this  property 
is: 

13,040  cars  at  $3,000  each  $39,120,000,00 

200  locomotives  at  $50,000  each  10,000,000,00 

Total  value  of  rolling  stock  $49,120,000,00 

The  Interstate  Commerce  Commission  estimates  that  cars  and 
locomotives  on  the  railroads  of  the  United  States  amount  to  twenty- 
one  percent  of  the  total  value  of  all  railroad  property.  If  this  is 
true,  the  total  value  of  all  railroad  property  released  in  the  trans- 
portation of  coal  alone,  by  the  construction  of  the  Illinois  Waterv/ay, 
is  $234,000,000,  It  will  require  about  $30,000,000  to  $35,000,000 
worth  of  property  to  transport  this  amount  of  coal  by  water  including 
the  terminal  facilities,  or  a net  saving  of  $200,000,000.00  worth  of 
transportation  property,  which  at  six  percent  interest  amounts  to 
$12,000,000,00  annually. 

The  rail  rate  on  coal  from  Southern  Illinois  to  Chicago  is 
$2.17  per  ton.  It  has  been  estimated  that  v;ith  the  completion  of  the 


»< 


t':' 


’’1  « 


V, 


A 


»• 


{ 


> 


t 


\ 

( 

{ 


; 


f 


K.  < 


( < 


w> 


/,  * A*i 


43 


Illinois  Waterway  fleets  of  targes  with  a capacity  of  9000  tons  can 
transport  this  coal  up  the  Mississippi  and  Illinois  River  to  Chicago 
at  a saving  of  $1,00  per  ton.  This  does  not  seem  unreasonable  in  the 
light  of  experience  on  other  waterv/ays  transporting  similar  commodi- 
ties. Coal  is  hauled  on  the  Great  Lakes,  distance  of  1000  miles 
at  thirty  cets  per  ton.  In  1920,  21,000,000  tons  of  coal  were  trans- 
ported over  the  Monongahela  River  to  Pittsburgh  in  smaller  barges 
and  through  smaller  locks  than  will  be  used  on  the  Illinois  River,  a 
distance  of  sixty-five  miles,  for  less  than  ten  cents  per  ton,  while 
the  railroad  charge  for  the  same  distance  was  eighty-five  cents  per 
ton. 

In  the  construction  of  the  Illinois  Waterv/ay  there  wmll 
be  developed  as  a by-product  about  55,000  h.  p,  yrs.  of  electric 
power.  This  will  result  in  an  annual  saving  of  550,000  tons  of  coal 
as  ordinarily  developed  in  steam  plants.  The  saving  of  this  amount 
of  coal  v/ould  release  $1,800,000.00  worth  of  rolling  stock  or 
$8,500,000.00  w/orth  of  rail  property.  At  six  percent  interest  this 
shows  an  annual  saving  of  $510,000.00.  Statistics  of  the  U.  S. 

Census  show  that  the  consumption  of  power  from  central  power  stations 
in  the  United  States  is  about  160  h.  p.  per  thousand  of  population. 

At  this  rate  the  power  developed  is  sufficient  for  a population  of 
344,000  people;  five  percent  of  the  total  population  of  the  State. 

The  current  prices  of  the  coal  f.o.b.  mines  in  Illinois 
and  Indiana  and  rail  rates  to  Chicago  are  shown  in  the  following 
table : 

SOUTHERN  ILLINOIS 

Freight  rate  to  Chicago  $2.17 

Prepared  sizes  $3.50--4.05 


44. 

Mine  Run  $2.75--3.00 

Screenings  1.85--2.25 

NORTHERl-I  ILLINOIS 
Freight  rate  to  Chicago  $1.54 

Prepared  sizes  $4«25--4.50 

Screenings  2.50-~3,S5 

SPRINGFIELD  DISTRICT  ( CEIITRAL  ILLINOIS) 

Freight  rate  to  Chicago  $1.83-|- 

Prepared  sizes  $2.75-»3.50 

Mine  Run  2. 25- -2. 7 5 

Screenings  1.75--1.85 

INDIAITA,  FOURTH  VEIN  COAL 

Freight  rate  to  Chicago  from  Sullivan  County,  $1,92; 

from  Clinton,  $1.78 

Prepared  sizes  $3.00--3.75 

Mine  Run  2.60--2.90 

Screenings  2.00--2.25 

INDIANA,  FIFTH  VEIN  COAL 

Freight  rate  to  Chicago  from  Sullivan  County,  $1.92; 

from  Clinton,  $1.78 

Prepared  sizes  $2.60--3.00 

Mine  Run  2, 25-- 2. 60 

Screenings  1.50--1.75 

This  table  shows  an  average  of  about  $2.65  per  ton  for  mine 
run  coal  f.o.b.  cars  at  the  mine  at  an  average  freight  rate  of  $1.87 
per  ton,  or  a total  of  $4.52  per  ton  f.o.b.  cars  at  Chicago.  At 
these  prices,  the  value  of  coal  saved  annually  by  the  development  of 
pov;er  along  the  Illinois  Waterway  amounts  to  $2,486,000.00.  If  the 


45 


price  of  coal  and  freight  are  finally  reduced  to  ^3.00  per  ton,  the 
saving  would  amount  to  $1,650,000.00  annually. 

The  total  oenefit  from  the  transportation  of  coal  by  water 
and  the  saving  in  coal  due  to  the  development  of  power  along  the 
Illinois  Waterway  is  as  follows: 

Interest  on  transportation  property  released 
Coal  saved  by  development  of  power  along  the 
waterway 

Saving  in  transportation  on  15,000,000  tons  of 
coal  at  $1.00  per  ton 
Total  annual  saving 


$12, 510,000,00 
1,650,000,00 

15,000,000.00 


$29,160,000.00 

Before  the  war  the  cost  of  producing  power  in  the  United 
States  by  steam  was  $70,00  per  h.p.  per  year.  If  power  developed 
incident  to  the  construction  of  the  Illinois  V/aterway  is  sold  at 
$30,00  per  h.p,  per  year,  the  annual  saving  will  amount  to  $40,00 
per  horse  power  or  $2,200,000  annually.  This  is  five  percent  on 
$44,000,000.  Computed  on  the  saving  of  coal  only,  i.e.  $1,650,000.00 
annually,  this  power  represents  at  five  percent  interest  a capital 
of  $33,000,000.00, 


The  development  of  one  horse  power  saves  the  labor  of 
thirty-five  men  per  year.  The  development  of  55,000  horse  power  is 
equivalent  1d  the  labor  of  1,925,000  men  annually. 

The  benefits  to  be  derived  from  cheap  hydro-electric  pov/er 
obtained  from  Niagara  Nalls  has  been  heralded  far  and  wide.  The 
wheels  of  commerce  and  transportation  through  a radius  of  200  miles 
from  Buffalo  receive  their  energy  from  the  falls  of  the  Niagara 
River,  Yet  as  great  as  this  power  is  it  does  not  equal  the  power 
developed  by  steam  in  the  Chicago  district.  Every  pound  of  this 


\ 


•3 


h 

0 


t t 


«:  < 


? t c 


< 


< < 


< ( 


5 < 


46 


coal  is  transported  to  the  power  houses  for  a distance  of  over  half 
the  length  of  the  State.  This  coal  comes  from  near  the  banks  of 
navigable  waters  of  southern  Illinois.  Practically  all  of  it  should 
and  could  be  brought  to  Chicago  by  water  and  could  be  delivered  to 
the  very  doors  of  the  great  power  plants  at  an  annual  saving  to  tax 
payers  of  northern  Illinois  sufficient  to  pay  four  percent  dividends 
on  the  entire  cost  of  the  waterway. 

As  startling  as  these  figures  are,  they  only  tell  of  the 
benefits  of  the  handling  of  one  commodity- -coal. 

The  world  is  coming  to  appreciate  the  world  primacy  of 
Illinois  in  that  industry  which  is  at  once  essential  to  agriculture 
and  of  importance  in  commerce-- the  manufac turing  of  farming  machinery 
and  implements. 

According  to  the  abstract  of  the  Census  of  Manufactures 
issued  by  the  Census  Bureau,  the  United  States  produced  in  1914,  farm 
machinery  valued  at  $164,036,335,  of  which  Illinois  alone  produced 
$65,337,663,  or  about  forty  percent  of  the  country’s  total  production. 
The  preliminary  figures  in  the  1920  Census,  give  the  value  of  the 
farm  implement  industry’s  products  in  the  United  States  in  1919  as 
$304,961,000,  or  a little  less  than  twice  the  total  for  1914.  No 
information  has  yet  been  given  out  as  to  the  rank  of  Illinois  with 
respect  to  farm  implement  production  in  1919,  but  it  is  to  be  assumed 
that  its  proportion  of  the  nation’s  output  did  not  decrease  between 
1914  and  1919. 

That  this  is  not  a transient  domination  is  shown  by  the 
fact  that  in  1909^  Illinois  made  $57,258,325  worth  of  farm  implements 
^U,  S,  Census,  1910. 


47 


out  of  $146,329,269  for  the  nation,  or  a little  better  than  thirty- 
nine  percent. 

In  the  September,  1921,  issue  of  the  Illinois  Journal  of 
Commerce,  DeWitt  C.  Wing,  Managing  Editor  of  the  Breeder’s  Gazette, 
speaks  of  the  live  stock  industry  of  Illinois  as  being  one  of  steadily 
increasing  importance  although  of  rather  recent  attention  at  the 
hands  of  most  farmers. 

Grain-farming  is  like  mining:  it  takes  wealth  out  of  the 
land,  and  ships  it  out  of  the  community.  The  virgin  stocks  of  soil 
fertility  made  agricultural  lands  comparable  to  a bank,  full  to  over- 
flowing with  deposits.  Thousands  of  "patrons”  drev/  lavishly  upon 
the  bank’s  original  capital  for  many  years,  until  in  some  regions  the 
"Bank"  was  approaching  insolvency.  Consequently , a mixed  system  of 
farming,  involving  the  breeding  and  feeding  of  live  stock,  is  being 
largely  adopted  to  conserve  the  original  capital  of  the  soil. 

Illinois  has  more  than  250,000  farms,  on  which  cattle  are 
raised  on  ninety-one  percent,  hogs  on  seventy-five  percent,  horses  on 
ninety-three  percent  and  sheep  on  ten  percent,  according  to  the  1920 
census.^  During  the  next  five  years  a marked  increase  in  the  total 
amount  of  live  stock  and  an  equally  marked  increase  in  its  breeding 
and  usefulness  are  fore-ordained  by  the  cheapness  and  abundance  of 
corn  and  other  grains,  by  the  declining  yields  of  crops  on  grain 
farms,  by  the  restoration  of  Araerican  industry,  by  the  low  prices  of 
breeding  stock,  and  by  the  growing  popular  knowledge  of  the  scientific 
soundness  of  the  stock -farming  system. 

^Y/ing,  D.  C,  , The  Live  Stock  Industry.  Illinois  Journal  of  Commerce, 
September,  1921. 


2lbid 


48 


The  numbers  of  cattle,  hogs, 
Illinois  in  1920  are  as  follows;^ 

Cattle 

Hogs 

Sheep 

Horses  and  Mules 


sheep,  and  horses  and  mules  in 


2.395.000 

4. 585.000 
889,000 

1.470.000 


Speaking  before  the  Southern  Illinois  Conference  held  at 
Benton,  September  16,  1921,  Frank  W,  DeV/olf,  Director  of  the  Illinois 
Geological  Survey,  brought  to  li;^t  some  pertinent  information  con- 
cerning Illinois’  mineral  deposits.^  Although  not  recognized  as  a 
great  producer  of  minerals  Illinois  ranks  fourth  among  the  states 
of  the  Union,  and  in  1918  yielded  mineral  products  from  domestic 
sources  valued  at  more  than  $271,000,000,  Of  this  production  southern 
Illinois  was  responsible  for  at  least  forty-five  percent  of  the  total, 
the  Baltimore  and  Ohio  Southwestern  Railroad,  which  crosses  the  state 
from  East  St.  Louis  to  Lawrenceville , being  taken  as  the  northern 
boundary  of  "Southern  Illinois". 

Of  the  minerals  other  than  coal  that  are  native  to  southern 
Illinois,  the  most  important  are  petroleum,  clay  and  clay  products, 
fluorspar,  stone  and  tripoli  or  amorphous  silica.  The  silver  produc- 
tion of  Illinois,  valued  at  approximately  $8,000  a year  and  produced 
IS  a by-product  of  fluorspar  mining,  is  of  passing  interest  only. 

"Besides  the  fields  I have  spoken  of  (referring  to  establish 
jd  Illinois  oil  fields) , there  has  been  a great  interest  in  southern 
Illinois  in  such  communities  as  Benton,  Harrisburg,  DuQ,uoin  and  all 
bhe  large  communities.  It  is  altogether  likely  that  some  oil  will  be 
'U,  S,  Census,  1921. 

-Reported  in  the  Illinois  Journal  of  Commerce,  October,  1921, 


49 


found  here  and  also  in  Western  Illinois,  but  it  is  very  difficult  to 
find  the  places  to  drill  because  your  rocks  are  buried  under  many 
feet  of  glacial  drift,  so  that  it  is  impossible  for  the  geologists 
to  see  the  rocks,  Fortunately,  however,  from  a study  of  viev/s  of 
core  records  and  water-well  records,  the  survey  has  been  able  to  work 
out  the  structure  in  may  places.”! 

The  latest  complete  figures  on  the  mineral  resources  of 
Illinois  are  as  follows:^ 


Coal 

$206,860,291 

Petroleum 

29,111,851 

Fluorspar 

2,430,361 

Limestone 

2,951,045 

Clay 

413,901 

Tripoli 

18,902 

Ganister , 

Novaculite  58,007 

and  crude  Tripoli 

Illinois’  underground  oil  supply  amounts  to  440,000,000 
barrels  or  five  percent  of  the  nation’s  total  reserve.  At  the  presen' 
rate  of  production  this  supply  will  last  forty  years,  or  twice  as  lon| 
as  the  nation’s  supply.  The  Illinois  reserve  is  more  than  twice  as 
large  as  that  of  V/est  Virginia  or  Ohio,  nearly  twice  as  large  as  that 
of  Pennsylvania  and  more  than  four  times  as  large  as  that  of  New  York, 

Sand  is  the  cheapest  commodity  on  earth  sold  in  bulk.  It  is 

the  only  commodity  so  inexpensive  that  the  cost  of  transporting  it  is 

^DeWolf,  F.  W. , Mineral  Deposits  of  Illinois.  Address,  Sept.  16,  1921, 
2 

DeWolf,  F.  V/.,  Director  of  the  Illinois  Geological  Survey. 

3 

These  calculations  are  the  result  of  a study  made  jointly  by  the 
United  States  Geological  Survey  and  the  American  Association  of 
Petroleum  Geologists. 


50. 

often  two  or  three  times  the  value  of  the  material  at  the  source  of 

supply.  About  4,000,000  tons  were  produced  and  sold  in  the  State  of 

Illinois  in  1921.^  The  Illinois  River,  the  Rox  River,  and  The  Rock 

River,  possess  good  deposits  of  sand  and  gravel  besides  those  found 

in  the  bed  of  the  Mississippi. 

Probably  the  largest  single  use  for  sand  and  gravel  is 

found  in  the  modern  concrete  highv/ay.  Every  mile  of  hard  road  of 

average  width  contains  approximately  2,000  tons  of  sand  and  3,000  tons 

of  gravel  or  crushed  stone.  Approximately  1,200  miles  of  new  concrete 

2 

roads  and  streets  will  be  built  in  Illinois  during  the  year  1922. 

Speaking  before  the  Business  Building  Conference  of  Illinois 
held  during  January,  1922,  Herman  H,  Hettler,  President  of  the  Illi- 
nois Manufacturers'  Association,  credits  Illinois  with  destiny  to 
become  the  manufacturing  center  of  the  world,  because  of  its  raw 
material,  unlimited  supply  of  fuel,  soil  of  surpassing  fertility, 
unexcelled  transportation  facilities  and  "climate  conducive  to  indus- 
trial  pep". 

The  last  government  census  of  Illinois  Factories  for  the 

year  1919,  shows  that  the  value  of  products  in  the  state  amounted  to 

$5,  426,652,000  or  a gain  of  14.15  percent  over  the  previous  census 

conducted  in  1914.'^  There  was  paid  out  in  wages  by  18,594  plants  the 

enormous  sum  of  $801,610,000  or  a gain  of  135.1  percent  in  five  years, 

and  805,008  persons  v/ere  engaged  in  rnanuf actur ing  in  these  establish- 

nents--an  increase  of  30.3  percent  in  the  five  year  period.^ 

^Pierce,  J.  D. , Secretary,  Illinois  Concrete  Aggregate  Association, 
Sand  and  Gravel  of  Illinois,  Illinois  Journal  of  Commerce,  March, 
1922. 

-Ibid. 

Z 

•^Reported  in  the  Illinois  Journal  of  Commerce,  February,  1922. 

^U.  S.  Census,  1914.  ^U.  S.  Census.  1920. 


\ 1l|<  JSi  li[>Jil|UlH^- 


1 


\ 


? 

i 


I c 


< 


c 


51. 

Illinois  ranks  third  among  the  industrial  states--the 
value  of  her  manufactured  products  being  exceeded  only  by  New  York 
and  Pennsylvania^--states  which  had  a start  over  Illinois  in  indus- 
trial fields  of  more  than  100  years  and  possess  the  advantage  of  a 
location  on  the  seaboard,'^ 

A tinge  of  color  is  added  to  the  composite  picture  of  the 
resources  of  Illinois,  when  it  is  known  that  the  growth  of  Chicago 
as  the  great  central  market  has  brought  about  the  development  there 
of  the  public  warehouse  idea  to  a much  greater  extent  than  in  any 
other  distributive  center, 

J,  E.  Lee,  President  of  the  Illinois  Association  of  Ware- 
housemen, has  this  to  say  about  v/arehouse  facilities  in  the  state; 
“There  are  at  the  present  time  approximately  forty  established  ware- 
houses in  the  city  of  Chicago  handling  general  merchandise  storage. 
This  is  exclusive  of  cold  storage  and  household  furniture  warehouses?* 
Peoria,  Joliet,  Aurora,  Springfield  and  other  cities  contribute  to 
the  state’s  total  warehousing  capacity.  The  merchandise  handled  by 
these  institutions  will  total  more  than  one  and  a quarter  million 
tons  per  year."^ 

^U.  S.  Census,  1920, 

2 

The  importance  of  the  Illinois  Waterway  as  a vital  factor  in  the 
future  manufacturing  supremacy  of  Illinois  is  indicated  by  this 
news  item  from  the  Illinois  Journal  of  Commerce  for  February,  1922, 
“Construction  of  the  Jones  and  Laughlin  Steel  Company's  new  mills 
at  Hammond,  Indiana,  waits  upon  the  opening  of  waterway  transpor- 
tation to  New  Orleans  by  the  Calumet  River,  the  Sag  and  Drainage 
Canals,  and  Illinois  and  Mississippi  Rivers.” 

'Z 

‘^Lee , J.  E.  , V/arehouse  Facilities  of  Illinois.  Illinois  Journal  of 
Comjmerce,  February,  1922, 

^Ibid. 


’A 


li 


14 


t 

iv 

'•1 


y 


I 


•I 

I 


■ 'I 


I 


“ l; 

VUl  ■ ■ ' • V I 

* n 

• V i' 


’Vi-» 


■ .“•w 


I 

\ 


t 


•r 


■ -Vi  •** 


52 


Contiguous  Territory  Tributary  to  the  Waterway. 

Inasmuch  as  the  two  general  principles  of  rate  making,  cost 
of  service  and  value  of  service,  will  guide  the  Illinois  Y/aterway 
carriers  in  compiling  their  tariffs,  it  follows  that  any  cominodity 
produced  along  the  banks  of  the  waterv/ay,  near  enough  to  a loading 
pier  to  be  practically  free  of  any  land  transportation  costs,  can  be 
shipped  over  the  Illinois  Waterway  more  cheaply  than  by  competing 
means  of  transportation.  This  will  be  true  even,  in  a good  many 
cases,  when  the  water  route  is  the  indirect  one,  as  long  as  the  ad- 
ditional mileage  does  not  eat  up  the  saving  of  the  water  rates  over 
the  indirect  one. 

Exactly  the  same  thing  is  to  be  said  about  arrival  of  the 
goods  at  their  destination.  As  long  as  this  destination  is  along  the 
banks  of  the  waterway  or  some  water  arm  of  the  system,  there  can  be 
no  doubt  about  the  advantage  of  the  waterway  over  other  existing  means 
of  transportation.  In  other  words,  as  long  as  the  commodity  is  pro- 
duced and  consumed  or  exported  entirely  at  points  located  on  some 
connecting  link  of  the  internal  waterv/ay  system,  the  freight  charges 
will  be  less  than  by  rail.  The  distance  of  the  haul  matters  not  in 
the  least.  Whether  it  be  for  ten  miles  or  a thousand  miles,  the 
charge  per  ton-mile  can  be  less  than  the  rail  carrier’s  charge  per 
ton-mile  for  the  same  haul,  V/ith  rail  ca-rriers  as  with  water  carriers 
BUch  charges  as  terminals,  damage,  a.nd  adminis tration  are  fixed  defi- 
nite costs  per  ton  regardless  of  the  length  of  the  haul,  while  others, 
nainly  those  of  haulage,  vary  almost  directly  with  the  mileage. 

Contrary  to  the  general  opinion,  water  transportation  is 
just  as  expeditious  on  the  average  as  rail  carriage.  While  the  barges 
io  not  make  as  high  speed  as  freight  cars,  their  speed  is  steadier. 


I 


53 


Though  the  freight  car  may  occasionally  travel  twenty  miles  in  an 
hour  and  the  harge  almost  never  over  five,  yet  either  will  make  about 
the  same  number  of  miles  in  a day.  This  is  true  because  of  the  con- 
gestion at  rail  terminals,  the  great  amount  of  switching  that  must 
be  done,  the  waiting  for  hours  a,t  a siding  to  permit  a fs.ster  train 
to  overtake  and  pass,  and  the  immense  amount  of  package  freight 
handled  by  rail  carriers.  The  canal  barge,  on  the  other  hand,  moves 
steadilj'-  though  slowly,  if  it  is  an  express,  straight  to  its  destina- 
tion without  stopping.  If  it  is  handling  package  freight  it  stops 
only  long  enough  at  each  port  to  discharge  and  ta.ke  on  the  frei^t. 
There  are  no  delays  from  congestion,  ri^t  of  v/ay,  or  sv;itching. 
Lockage  does  not  require  over  an  hour.  The  situation  is  the  classi- 
cal one  of  the  hare  and  the  tortoise. 

There  is  no  question  either,  vhen  a waterway  is  a link  in 
a joint  direct  route  between  tv;o  points,  that  a cheaper  rate  may  be 
worked  out  than  if  an  all  rail  route  were  used,  provided  the  cost  of 
reloading  at  the  transition  point  does  not  become  as  great  as  the 
saving  effected.  The  length  of  the  water  haul  is  the  determining 
factor  in  a case  of  this  sort. 

It  is  only  v/hen  the  waterway  attempts  to  draw  trade  from 
points  not  located  on  its  banks,  vrhich  are  in  direct  line  wdth  the 
shipping  destination  by  rail  but  v^-hich  in  order  to  move  by  water  must 
use  a truck  or  rail  shipment  at  either  or  both  ends  of  the  water  haul 
that  a serious  problem  in  the  deteimi nation  of  trade  area  arrises. 
Pinckneyville , shipping  coal  to  Chicago,  is  in  direct  connection  with 
it  by  rail,  but  is  thirty  miles  from  the  Mississippi  and  water  con- 
nection. The  irtplement  manufacturers  in  Chicago  have  good  rail  con- 
nections to  Mt.  Sterling,  Yfhich  is  fifteen  m.iles  from  the  Illinois 


. ..  ‘ 


; «c'X  i ; ' . ' 

' 

i>*,. -/'■ 


' ''^ ''' 


t 


4 


54. 


River.  When  the  barge  service  on  the  Illinois  Waterway  is  in  opera- 
tion will  the  coal  mining  company  at  Pinckneyville  find  it  profitable 
to  truck  their  coal  to  the  river,  build  a narrow  gauge  line,  or  use 
an  existing  feeder  line,  in  order  to  take  advantage  of  the  cheap 
water  rates,  instead  of  using  the  direct  rail  service?  Can  the  deal- 
er at  Mt.  Sterling  make  more  profit  for  himself  or  a lower  price  to 
his  customers,  if  he  orders  his  farm  machinerj''  shipped  by  water  to 
Eeardstown,  from  v/hich  point,  it  v/ill  have  to  move  by  rs.il  or  truck 
to  Mt.  Sterling,  instes.d  of  using  rail  the  entire  distance? 

Upon  the  solution  of  such  problems  as  these,  depends  the 
estimate  of  the  size  of  the  contiguous  area  that  may  be  considered 
as  a freight  tributary  in  this  survey  of  potential  tonnage  for  the 
Illinois  Waterway.  For  commodities  of  high  value  and  small  bulk, 
motor  trucks  are  now  meeting  the  competition  of  railroads  for  fifty 
to  one  hundred  and  fifty  miles. For  coimnodi ties  of  low  value  and 
high  bulk,  distances  which  trucks  can  compete  with  railroads  are  much 
less.  In  general,  it  is  true  that  the  distance  out  of  direct  line 
for  w^hich  it  will  be  profitable  to  truck  goods  to  the  Illinois  Water- 
wa,y  varies  directly  with  their  value  and  indirectly''  w'ith  their  bulk. 

After  a very  extensive  study  of  Inland  Waterways  and  Trans- 

, O 

portation  Costs,'''  Mr.  M.  Ct.  Barnes  came  to  the  conclusion  that  the 

extreme  boundary  of  the  territory  tributary  to  the  Illinois  Waterway, 

should  be  set  at  forty  miles  from  the  waterway.  The  waterway  cannot 

hope  to  draw  all  the  long  haul  existing  tonnage  from  this  area  but 

it  should  draw  a good  part  of  it  from  the  outer  edge  with  a steadily 

ihcreasing  percentage  as  the  distance  shortens  until  practically  all 

“Patton,  A.  E.,  Some  Economic  Aspects  of  Motor  Truck  Transportation, 
p.  56-61. 

2 

Barnes,  M.  G. , Inland  Waterways  and  Transportation  Costs,  p.  18. 


1.^  ■ ...f 


■'>  t 


. ;i 


'■fi 


■ •' n. 

*\  f- 


■■‘V 

'.dk 


< • 


55 


of  it  may  be  counted  on  at  the  v/ater’s  edge.  The  ratio  of  low  value 
goods  to  high  value  goods  in  tons,  vrill  increase  as  the  course  of  the 
waterway  is  approached.  Mr.  Audley  E.  Patton  in  an  investigation 
carried  on  during  the  winter  and  spring  of  1921-22,  for  the  purpose 
of  determining  motor  truck  transportation  costs,^  came  to  conclusions 
similar  to  these  Just  stated. 

This  forty-mile  area  in  Illinois  is  shown  on  the  map  of  the 
state  in  Plate  VI,  page  56.  It  is  stated  that  seventy-seven  percent 
of  the  area  and  eighty-six  percent  of  the  population  of  Illinois  are 
within  forty  miles  of  navigable  waters. ^ The  plate  also  shows  the 
coal  and  grain  production  in  that  part  of  the  forty  mile  area  which 
will  affect  tonnage  on  the  Illinois  V/aterway  most  directly.  Plate 
VII,  on  page  57,  shows  the  proposed  hard  road  system  for  Illinois, 

It  v/ill'be  noted  that  many  roads  connect  v/ith  the  Waterway  and  when 
completed  will  be  admirable  trucking  highv;ays.  The  hard  road  con- 
struction is  being  pushed  along  rapidly,  the  quota  for  1922  being 
1000  miles.  Plate  VIII,  on  page  58,  shows  the  railroad  lines  now 
existing  which  will  become  feeders  for  the  Waterway  on  account  of 
their  connection  with  it. 

Exports  and  Imports. 

Out  of  thirty-eight  exporting  customs  districts  in  the 
United  States  only  five,  during  the  first  nine  months  of  1921,  showed 
increased  export  values  over  the  corresponding  period  of  the  preced- 
ing year.  The  Chicago  district’s  increase,  from  |25,354,000  to 
$42,662,000  was  the  largest.^ 

“Patton,  A.  E. , Some  Economic  Aspects  of  Motor  Truck  Transportation, 
p.  57. 

2 

This  estimate  is  based  on  figures  from  the  U.  S.  Census,  1920, 
^^Eoreign  Commerce  Department.  Our  World  Trade.  1921^  U.S.  Cham._Qf^_CQim 


PLATE  VI 


COAL  AND  GRAIN 

PRODUCTION  WITHIN 

THE  PORTY-MILE  AREA 
CONTIGUOUS  TO  THE 

ILLINOIS  WATERWAY. 


56, 


The  Green  areas,  represent 
the  Grain  production  of 
the  various  counties. 

The  Purple  areas,  repre- 
sent the  Coal  production 

•T>he  Hatched  area  is  that 
section  more  than  forty 
miles  from  navi*?, able  water 
ways. 


PLATE  VII 


57 


THE  HARD  ROADS  PLAN  FOR  ILLINOIS 


LEGEND 

Paving  Comp  let  ed  • — • 

Roads  under  construction 
and  roads  upon  vahich  work 
has  not  been  started  ^ 

The  shaded  area  is  that  section 
of  the  State  which  is  more  tnan 
40  miles  from  navigable  waters. 


La'f» 

M I c,  ^ * 4 <»  'I 


PLATE  VIII 


RAILROADS  GONNP]CTING 


ILL  I NCI-  W.TP-.W.Y 


59. 


TJrie  foreign  and  domestic  commerce  of  the  principal  Gulf 
ports  in  1913  amounted  to  over  sixteen  million  tons."^'  These  ports 
are  all  either  now  connected,  or  very  soon  will  be  connected,  by  an 
inland  water  route  with  the  Mississippi  River.  The  present  tonnage 
between  St.  Louis  and  Chicago  is  approximately  2,500,000  tons  annually; 
equally  divided  between  north  and  south  bound  freight.  On  the  Miss- 
issippi River  from  St.  Louis  to  its  mouth  is  found  the  great  cotton, 
rice  and  cane  sugar  belt  of  the  United  States  where  fifty-six  percent 
of  the  cotton,  ninety-tv/o  percent  of  the  rice,  and  practically  all  of 
the  cane  sugar  produced  in  the  United  States  are  raised. 

In  addition  to  these  crops,  vast  quantities  of  the  products 
of  mines  and  forests  are  also  produced.  Sugar  refineries  of  Louisi- 
ana have  increased  their  $12,000,000  output  in  1890  to  about 
$64,000,000  in  1909,  and  are  the  largest  sugar  refineries  in  the 
world.  At  the  upper  end  of  the  valley  the  Twin  Cities  and  Chicago 
are  the  receiving  and  distributing  points  of  the  grain  belt,  raising 
annually  approximately  5,000,000,000  bushels  of  grain  and  vast  herds 
of  live  stoch.  The  area  and  destination  of  export  grain  is  shown  by 
Plate  IX,  page  60.  The  commerce  of  Chicago,  as  reported  by  the 
Chicago  Board  of  Trade,  amounted  to  about  22,000,000  tons  in  1897,  and 
over  40,000,000  tons  in  1907,  nearly  doubling  in  that  decade.  The 
total  manufactures  of  Chicago  in  1919  were  $2,464,241,250.  The  value 
of  the  wholesale  trade  exceeded  $3,000,000,000.  For  that  year  the 
total  foreign  coinmerce  for  the  United  States  was  approximately 
19,000,000,000. 

The  Department  of  Commerce  and  Labor  computes  that  the  value 

■The  figures  in  the  following  paragraphs  dealing  with  foreign  trade, 
are  taken  from  the  brochure  prepa.red  by  M.  G.  Barnes,  entitled. 
Inland  Waterways  and  Transportation  Costs,  pp.  22-26. 


4 


• * 


PLATF:  IX. 


60. 


•fi 


2 

O 

M 

E-* 

C 

2 

M 

E- 

CO 

E Cm 

a o 

o 

2 

< 


C£ 

< 


ci-»»  V. 

-t^+j 

e 

VsO  V. 


GRAIN  EXPORT  TRADE 


61. 


of  the  export  trade  is  approximately  $36,00  per  ton,  and  the  import 
trade  $63,00  per  ton.  The  mean  of  this  is  approximately  $50,00,  At 
that  rate  Chicago’s  mai'.uf ac tures  in  1917  amounted  to  approximately 
50,000,000  tons  a.nd  its  wholesale  trade  60,000,000,  Undou'btedlj'’  some 
of  these  items  are  counted  tv/ice,  but  it  is  fair  to  assume  that  the 
total  commerce  of  the  city  in  1919  exceeded  60,000,000  tons. 

Although  not  nearly  all  of  this  commerce  is  north  and  south 
bound,  the  trade  seeking  that  route  is  increasing  rapidly.  The  open- 
ing of  the  Panama  Canal  gave  a great  advantage  to  the  Centrail  \7est  in 
securing  an  outlet  for  South  American  and  Oriental  trade.  In  the 
fiscal  year  ending  June,  1915,  the  port  of  Nev;  York  handled  seventy- 
two  percent  of  the  foreign  commerce  of  the  Atlantic  coast.  It  has 
been  recognized  for  a long  time  that  the  port  is  congested  and  cannot 
economically  handle  such  a volume  of  trohe.  The  present  condition 
emphasizes  the  importance  of  another  cutlet  for  this  trade.  The  best 
all  w'ater  route  is  down  the  Mississippi  Valley  from  Chicago  and  St. 
Paul  to  Nev;’  Orleans  and  other  Gulf  Ports, 

In  the  trade  with  Central  and  South  American  countries  in 
the  decade  just  preceding  the  Great  War,  New  Orleans  v;ith  Honduras 
bad  increased  eighty-eight  percent; 

Witli  Mexico  200  percent 


Cuba 

60 

II 

II 

H 

Argentina 

60 

II 

II 

•1 

Brazil 

58 

II 

II 

M 

Chile 

389 

II 

II 

II 

Peru 

594 

II 

II 

The  value  of  agricultural  machinery  exported  to  South  America,  in  1911 
exceeded  $9,000,000  a,n  increase  of  100  percent  in  five  years,  Chicago 


62 


houses  shipped  from  1500  to  2000  cars  of  farm  implements  a year  to 
South  America,  and  v/ould  have  shipped  more  if  facilities  existed  for 
forv/arding  promptly. 

The  exports  from  the  United  States  in  the  fiscal  year 
ending  June  30,  1920,  increased  over  the  fiscal  year  1312:^ 


With 

British  India 

376 

percen 

It 

China 

338 

It 

H 

it 

Dutch  East  Indies 

1,320 

II 

II 

11 

J apari 

1,190 

II 

II 

H 

Argentina 

195 

II 

II 

II 

Brazil 

217 

•1 

II 

II 

Central  America 

88 

II 

11 

II 

Chili 

174 

II 

II 

II 

Cuba 

475 

H 

II 

II 

West  Indies 

415 

II 

II 

A large  proportion  of  this  trade  should  "be  carried  on 
through  the  Gulf  Ports.  Most  of  the  countries  named  are  just  begin- 
ning to  feel  their  importance  as  the  United  States  did  one  hundred 
year  ago,  and  the  possibilities  for  extending  our  foreign  with  them 
are  almost  unlimited. 

A few  examples  v/ill  be  cited  to  show  the  amount  of  commerce 
in  single  commodities  that  may  be  expected  and  the  vessels  required 
to  conduct  them  when  an  adequate  canal  is  once  completed.  Let  it  be 
assumed  that  Chicago  is  the  consuming  and  distributing  point  of  only 
five  million  people.  At  the  average  per  capita  consumption  in  the 
United  States  this  requires  210,000  tons  of  sugar,  30,000  tons  of 
coffee,  40,000  tons  of  rice,  and  20,000  tons  of  canned  goods.  Sisal 
imported  into  Chicago  through  New  Orleans  exceeds  125,000  tons  annual- 
^U.  S.  Census.  1920. 


I >V  —4  ■. 


t 


I 


4 ■ ' » 


ari-'..'',''rii  1 

,,■..  ' I- ,'  ■ 

. t3.; 


? 


63 


ly.  Tliese  are  coirmiodities  raised  in  the  southern  states  or  imported 
into  them.  To  transport  this  tonnage  to  Chicago  it  would  require 
seven  fleets  of  five  barges  es-ch,  each  barge  hauling  750  tons,  to 
transport  the  sugar;  one  fleet  of  five  barges  to  bring  the  coffee; 
two  fleets  to  bring  the  rice  and  canned  goods  to  this  port;  and  four 
fleets  to  bring  the  sisal. 

^Alien  normal  freight  rates  are  again  established  on  the  oceaj 
an  immense  amount  of  Pacific  coast  lumber  will  reach  the  Gulf  coast 
for  distribution  inland.  About  sixty  percent  of  the  total  amount  of 
lumber  used  in  Chicago  now  comes  from  the  Gulf  States.  This  amounts 
to  about  3,000,000  tons  and  undoubtedly  enough  will  seek  v/ater  trans- 
portation to  keep  several  fleets  of  boats  constantly  employed. 


sa^scs^ 


, »V'  " 


k 


..  f- 
A. 


,,;>"i., 'rml  "So 

„...■  ■'  ^-; ' ‘’® 

1-  ‘i  p’*  V ■ 

i 

\)a.  , ■ •'•’■•»  • 

n;>\  -td  ' T V!„!»'l- 

•■  j.  ;'*f  ‘r 

J?  •,!::/■ 


*v.j> 


i 


I;*!!: 


<■•  f 


ja. 


' : ; - V,,*. 

c.w ' r--  -■ 

'^■.f'  kiu 


'■'Mijiy- ' J^*4fSV‘  . if  . t'  ‘‘Si 

- ■^  '^’  ' ii.«i  *.5(t. 


"'■  - * * 'm"'  Vsfc'  ' '«' 


‘r. 


r'j  fsAo'^ 


,.^1; 


f'"';  ' 

:*  it 


■|H  '•■  -m 


£ 

>j 


T S-vi 


64 


CHAPTER  V. 

RELATED  PROJECTS  AM)  PEHDIFG  ISSUES 
The  Great  Lakes  Seaway 

It  would  be  difficult  to  designate  a subject  about  which 
the  general  public  is  more  interested  and  at  the  same  time  more  in 
need  of  facts  and  dispassionate  expert  opinion  than  the  Great  Lakes- 
St.  Lawrence  Deep  Waterway  and  power  development  project  which  Gover- 
nor Miller  of  Nev;  York  characterizes  as  a,n  ’’impossible  dream”  and 
which  Governor  Allen  of  Kansas  stoutly  champions  in  behalf  of  the 
eighteen  middle-v/est  states  composing  the  Great  Lakes-St,  Lav/rence 
Tidev/ater  Association.  (See  Plates  X and  XI,  pages  65  and  66). 

Upon  completion  of  the  Great  Lakes  Seaway,  the  Illinois 
Waterway  will  become  a section  of  a world  transportation  s^^stem  even 
more  extensive  in  its  ramifications  than  the  one  which  is  the  immed- 
iate prospect.  The  extent  of  such  a system  is  graphically  illustrat- 
ed by  Plate  XII,  page  67.  It  is  readily  seen  from  the  plate  how 
advantageous  is  the  geographical  location  of  the  Illinois  Waterway 
in  reference  to  an  ocean  steamship  route  to  Chicago  as  well  as  barge 
service  on  the  Mississippi,  Ohio,  and  Missouri  Rivers.  As  far  as 
Illinois  is  concerned  on  account  of  the  success  of  its  own  waterv/ay 
development,  it  rea.lly  matters  little  whe-ther  the  Great  Lakes  Seaway 
is  built.  If  nothing  is  done  about  it,  the  Illinois  V/aterw^ay  will 
carry  a great  deal  of  coal  and  other  commodities  north  to  be  shipped 
out  by  rail  a.nd  leLke,  a.nd  the  barges  will  return  loaded  v/ith  Chicago 
manufactures  and  some  of  the  commodities  for  v/hich  Chicago  now  acts 
as  a transfer  station. 


PLATE  X. 


STATES  DEMANDING  AN  OUTLET  BY  MEANS 
OP  THE  GREAT  LAKES  SEAWAY 


The  eighteen  heavily  shaded  states  are  urging  that 
the  Great  L^-Kes  seaway  is  a matter  of  industrial  life 
ana  death  to  them. 


'I  *vis‘ 


" 'X’T* 


V ■ /'ri\-^'.'‘ ' k> 


■-  # - 
*'i,''  !ir 


^ ■ V 


t Hi< 


. ; . 7-ij  ' 1*  ■ •■  J ' ■■  • 'V 


;.  f,'.K*J  . 

*.  ' 5 T 


ti'  ‘"i 


■\ 


,'..M  SflUb’tft 

,;  ,'  . 4 


it,<V^  'h '‘'■*=  ■ I ' J ■ 

, ■ .V  .,»  (/'j1  > , »•  ^ 

. , «L  V - 


. „ 

' /,-  , * f -e 


■9  " '^' ' ■■V- 


PLATF  XT. 


CITIRS  TO  BECOME  SEAPORTS 


PL  ATE  XII. 


67. 


THE  ILLINOIS  WATEEWAY  AS  A LINK  IN  THE 
WATER  TRANSPORTATION  SYSTEM  OP  THE  WORLD 


Courtesy , 
M ^ 


^ V* 

"inland  Waterways 
and  Transportat ion  Costs, 


68 


In  event  that  a deep  sea  ship-channel  should  be  built  down 
the  St.  Lawrence  to  Chicago,  the  Illinois  Waterway  v/ould  carry  more 
goods  to  and  from  Chicago  and  somewhat  fewer  barge-loads  to  and  from 
the  southern  points.  It  is  probably  true,  that  a Great  Lakes  Seaway 
would  bring  about  still  Icv/er  freight  rates  and  thereby  be  respon- 
sible for  more  profit  to  the  producer  and  less  cost  to  the  consumer, 
but  it  would  not  affect  the  total  amount  of  tonnage  traversing  the 
Illinois  Waterv/ay  to  any  appreciable  degree.  The  territory  served 
by  the  Illinois  Waterv/ay  has  just  so  many  million  tons  of  goods  to 
dispose  of  and  in  like  manner  the  tons  of  commodities  to  be  brought 
in  from  the  outside  is  an  inelastic  amount  v/hich  a sea-way  to  Chica- 
go cannot  change.  Certain  it  is  that  the  Great  Lakes  Seaway  may 
shift  somewhat  the  boundaries  of  the  territory  tributary  to  the  Illi- 
nois Waterway  but  the  result  is  bound  to  approximate  the  original 
territory  in  tonnage.  If  the  little  northwest  wheat  v/hich  the  Illi- 
nois V/aterway  might  have  handled  is  lest  to  the  Great  Lakes  Seav/ay, 
the  compensation  comes  v;ith  the  increasing  status  of  Chicago  as  a 
world  port  and  the  Illinois  Waterway  as  her  •’back-door”. 

When  the  effect  of  the  prospective  ship  channel  dov/n  the 
St,  Lawrence  is  viev^ed  from  a less  localized  vantage  point,  certain 
very  important  factors  concerning  the  nation  as  a v;hole  are  brought 
to  light.  The  opposition  of  the  hew  York  State  authorities  seems  to 
be  based  on  the  belief  that  the  St,  Lav/rence  Canal  will  be  a rival  to 
the  New  York  State  barge  canal  and  that  it  also  will  be  detrimental 
to  the  interests  of  the  port  of  New  York.  The  westerners  in  favor  of 
the  project  declare  there  is  traffic  enough  for  both;  that  not  only 
would  the  capacity  of  the  barge  canal  be  exceeded  if  it  v/ere  possible 
to  divert  all  the  available  traffic  to  the  canal,  but  that  the  port 
of  New  York  is  so  far  behind  the  times  that  it  ccnld  net 


( 


jJTTntf-'  i-‘-  ^ .:  r'>>irA«c.,-T,-teir  iiS 


• V f S 


t“  i^-  { 

',  ,'■■  .^..  ,:!I>7^/'  J ...i  ' 

' • k .wsJ  • * . ■ I ,'  - .• 


^vfi-  ...  , .vf!  ■ . Ttioa  t 


Hi 


>n  r. 

1;  iIU 
..  , ■'J  1 •'• . 


'£iT  .«f^.*f.‘  xrfi- 

" • , ..  • , ^ . 7.,  . 

I A ’‘Hr.  '‘C(<s  A v.t /'i '.,!.v^^ ^ 

•.  :•.  ,1  ;.'r  .?  1 . r i t-  j 

..ti^  ;dffj  vi 


, ’■  * 

I A 


• -i,  ’;ct;  i.i3 


’■  0^' 'f.'u.X'fii-  '"i  •■',^*'tj  "" 


■'  i 'I 


ft  • t'  ’ .,  > 'V'T 

' Uv'  X 


■ 'w'rkM 


f 


‘ , »’*a».-  i 


••  ■ - f:.  ;1K  '■ 


0.0/  «t 

.'  ,i:roAj,fl  y<4-r  fiiAv:  ■*■  «t''' 

' ' , ''  '-  ^ ' ■ 


V.  . H 


I'.  v3^.j5.-  .’ HaV'*  ■ ■<  1' '.  .:'t)0‘.i’  fi  ,.P. 


. j.\  , -i 


1 ^ - Aim 

f .‘  4;ii ' 

- •*  . . . 'X  T * ^ ' 4-  • 1 _.  , 


:,V  .r>.  .•■* -*i.!irvu^.  w-  Vif^  -'i® ^ 

■ • ■ -feff 

^ -■  ..Mi-  J't  tv 

-'  ■'  ' •■^ 'O  r ' r ^~  ' ' ’ 4 .. 

I,  i.-oT.-  AifT  . fff'AA  ’!<■  vwi  citr'fe  fj:- 


; '-•(f  »k4'  uJ;  ,'«««i4  * 

' • JU^  <1 


® s 


®j4*t  ... 

. <JL«  i 


•If  4». 


69 


a fair  percentage  of  what  the  "barge  canal  itself  could  carry, 

A report  submitted  to  what  is  known  as  the  International 
Joint  Commission  by  Colonel  Wooten,  of  the  United  States  Engineer 
Corps,  and  V/,  A.  Bowden,  of  the  Canadian  Department  of  Railv/a,ys  and 
Canals,  describes  the  seaway  as  follows:^ 

“A  project  designed  to  provide  channels  with  a minimum 
depth  of  twenty-five  feet  and  sufficient  width  at  all  points  betv/een 
Lake  Ontario  and  Montreal,  which  channels  may  be  subsequently  deepen- 
ed to  thirty 'feet  throughout  without  destroying  any  permanent  con- 
struction; to  include  the  incidental  development  of  the  first  of  a 
series  of  power  projects  generating  1,460,000  h,p,  net  delivered  on 
the  switchboard;  to  permit  the  subsequent  development  of  the  remainin, 
power  in  the  river,  which  will  be  neither  hindered  nor  benefited  by 
this  improvement  for  navigation, 

"The  length  of  the  canal  channel  is  only  thirty- three  miles 
and  there  is  Strong  probability  that  this  will  be  kept  within  twenty- 
four  miles  v;hen  final  working  plans  are  developed,  Plate  XIII,  page 
70,  shows  the  route  of  the  proposed  seaway.  The  estimated  cost  of 
this  improvement  is  1252,728,200  including  the  cost  of  development 
of  1,460,000  h,p,  and  its  delivery  to  sv/i tchboard, 

’’The  estimated  a.dditional  cost  of  obtaining  a navigable 
depth  of  thirty  feet  throughout  is  $17,936,180,  or  for  a thirty  foot 
project  complete,  approximately  $270,000,000," 

Governor  Miller,  assailing  the  project,  declares  that  the 
tax  burden  on  New  York  in  particular  and  the  country  in  general  would 
be  increased  in  order  to  promote  an  experiment,  and  that  the  prime 
necessity  is  to  improve  first  our  own  ports  and  waterways  instead  of 

T’ 

■^Current  Opinion,  February,  1922,  page  266, 


' tifl 


4, 


C « 


70 


PLAT"  XIII. 


ROUTR  OP  THE  PROPOSED  INTERNATIONAL  WATERWAY  PROM 
LAKE  ONTARIO  TO  THE  HEAD  OP  OCEAN  NAVIGATION 


It  is  endorsed  by  the  Governors  of  eighteen  States, 
not  including  the  State  of  New  York. 


71. 

promoting  a project  in  a foreign  country.  Over  and  above  the  esti- 
mated cost  of  the  channel  canal,  it  v/ould  be  reasonable,  in  his 
opinion,  to  add  at  least  twenty-five  percent  as  unexpected  cost, 
which  would  bring  the  United  States’  half  up  to  more  than  $150,000, 00' 
for  a canal  twenty-five  feet  deep.  He  estimates  that  it  would  cost 
the  United  States  an  additional  $50,000,000  to  dredge  the  channels  of 
the  St.  Lawrence  and  harbors  of  the  Great  Lakes  to  the  same  depth,  so 
that  "we  have  an  initial  expense  of  $200,000,000  to  be  borne  by  the 
United  States”  as  its  half  of  the  project.  This  is  pointed  out  to 
be  one-fifth  of  the  total  amount  expended  on  improving  all  our  rivers 
and  harbors  during  the  entire  history  of  the  country.  V/hen,  echoes 
the  New  York  Times . the  people  are  crying  for  relief  from  excessive 
!Federal  taxation,  “such  a proposal  is  monstrous”. 

It  also  is  object  that  for  seven  months  of  the  year  only, 
would  the  route  be  practicable  for  navigation  at  the  northern  end, 
and  ice  and  fog  would  offer  obstructions  and  dangers  for  a longer 
period.  ”The  locks  and  limited  channels  would  shut  out  the  deep-sea 
ships  anyway.  Besides,  the  latter  are  more  expensive  to  build  and 
operate,  haven’t  the  carrying  capacity  of  the  lake  ships  and  couldn’t 
corrpete  v;ith  them.  The  oceangoers  have  to  run  all  the  j^ear  round  to 
make  a living.” 

As  to  the  feasibility  of  the  canal.  Colonel  J.  G.  Warren, 
Corps  of  Engineers,  United  States  Army,  is  quoted,  in  the  Manufactur- 
ers Record,  as  saying  that  the  Great  Lakes  fleet,  composed  of  the  mosi 
economical  carriers  in  the  v/orld,  moves  more  than  100,000,000  tons 
of  freight  each  season.  These  vessels  are  from  280  to  625  feet  in 
length  and  have  a carrj^-ing  capacity  of  from  3,000  to  15,000  short 
tons..  Most  of  them  can  be  loaded  to  a draft  of  about  twenty- tv/o  feet. 


I ' 

i 


-r 


U‘i 


py  ■'  •% 

u ft  .nr 


72 


Colonel  Warren  states  that  the  United  States  has  spent  about  $135,000- 
000  in  improving  the  harbors,  deepening  and  straightening  the  channels 
and  building  the  locks  on  the  St.  Mary’s  and  Niagara  Rivers.  “As  a 
result  there  is  now  available  a ship  channel  through  and  between  the 
upper  lakes  with  a controlling  depth  of  twenty-one  feet  at  mean  stage. 
All  the  important  harbors  have  corresponding  depths.  From  Lake  Erie 
through  the  Welland  Canal,  Lake  Ontario  and  the  St.  Lawrence  River  to 
tidewater  at  Montreal,  the  controlling  depth  is  fourteen  feet.” 

Paul  T.  Brady,  an  engineer  of  standing  v/ho  is  identified 
with  important  hydro-electric  developments  in  the  South  and  elsewhere, 
regards  the  St.  Lawrence  River  development  as  an  undertaking  that  will 
be  ’’mightily  advantageous  to  the  United  States”.  Even  under  present 
conditions,  he  points  out,  in  the  New  York  Cormnercial . a large  part 
of  the  traffic  of  the  central  west  is  seeking  an  outlet  at  Montreal. 
The  railroad  terminals  in  and  about  Montreal  had  on  September  1,  1921, 
2,000  cars  of  Canadian  grain  in  the  harbor  and  the  river  waiting  their 
chance  to  be  loaded.  The  elevators  v;ere  filled  v/ith  American  grain, 
the  Canadian  elevator  capacity  having  been  secured  by  American  export- 
ers ahead  of  Canadian  shippers.  American  grain  was  thus  seeking 
Canadian  export  in  preference  to  export  from  New  York  e-nd  other  Amer- 
ican ports.  Emphasis  is  placed  on  this  fact. 

The  development  of  the  St.  Lav^’rence,  concludes  Mr.  Brady, 
and  the  utilization  of  its  power  through  the  states  of  New  York  and 
Uev/  England  would  be  a benefit  that  can  scarcely  be  calculated,  ’’The 
Darge  canal  would  be  taxed  to  its  utmost  capacity  to  take  care  of  the 
industries  that  would  be  purely  local  to  the  State  of  New  York,  s.nd 
the  railroads  of  the  country  would  be  taxed  to  their  capacity  to  secur 
Tioney  to  develop  their  lines  so  that  the  produce  of  the  country  could 


- 1 i ■ • • • ,.k 

r . - ’ 


- • • • 


73 


be  brought  to  the  nearest  point  of  water  transportation  instead  of 
attempting  to  haul  carloads  across  the  3,000  miles  of  the  United 
States. ” 

There  are  many  who  feel  that  if  the  project  were  divorced 
from  its  aggressive  agrarian  support  in  the  United  States,  its  popu- 
larity v/ould  collapse.  Likewise,  it  is  pointed  out  that  the  water- 
way is  more  essential  to  Canada  than  it  is  to  the  United  States  and 
is,  therefore,  a proper  charge  upon  their  resources.  This  last  argu- 
ment is  based  on  the  belief  that  in  exporting  v/heat,  the  nation 
possessing  the  largest  areas  of  cheap  land  capable  of  being  tilled 
vdth  cheap  labor  enjoys  an  advantage  in  foreign  markets. 

In  a bulletin  published  by  The  Institute  of  American  Busi- 
ness,^ the  argument  is  advanced  that  the  present  advantages  enjoyed 
by  southern  ports,  especially  those  on  the  Gulf,  and  the  whole  grain 
trade  built  up  to  prosperous  proportions  during  recent  years,  are  to 
be  SY/ept  away  if  the  project  goes  to  completion.  The  advocates  of  th( 
St.  Lawrence  plan  are  charged  v/ith  emphasizing  the  short  haul  from 
Duluth  and  Chicago  to  Liverpool,  while  ignoring  the  various  foreign 
trade  routes,  just  as  favorable,  now  in  use.  Gulf  and  South  Atlantic 
ports  v/hich  during  the  war  were  overshadowed  by  the  great  export 
movement  to  the  Allied  countries,  are  now  resuming  the  trade  with 
South  America,  the  Bar  East,  Mexico,  and  Cuba.  The  general  feeling 
among  a large  group  of  opponents  is  that  all  the  efforts  expended  on 
the  improvement  of  the  Mississippi  River  System  would  be  made  futile 
through  canalization  of  the  St,  Lawrence,  both  waterways  competing  to 
serve  the  saxie  territory, 

^The  Institute  of  American  Business,  Bulletin  Uo,  3,  March  21,  1922, 
Eallacies  of  the  St.  Lawrence  Waterway  Scheme. 


74 


'•Pittsburgh  Plus" 

Speaking  before  the  annual  convention  of  the  Mississippi 
Valley  Association  at  Kansas  City,  April  24,  1922,  H,  G.  Pickering, 
general  cousel  for  the  V/estern  Association  of  Rolled  Steel  Consumers 
had  this  to  say  about  "Pittsburgh  Plus":^  "Improvement  of  the  v/ater- 
ways,  enlargement  of  the  facilities  for  export  trade,  and  extension 
of  the  barge  lines,  will  fail  of  any  material  benefit  to  the  Mississ- 
ippi unless  basing  point  practices  which  superimpose  a phantom  frei^t 
charge  upon  the  western  manufacturer  so  as  to  equalize  his  freights 
in  such  a manner  as  to  leave  him  face  to  face  with  eastern  competi- 
tion in  any  part  of  the  United  States,  are  at  the  same  time  eliminat- 
ed. " 

"Pittsburgh  Plus"  is  a practice  employed  by  the  steel  mills 
of  the  country  whereby  they  charge  as  the  price  for  rolled  steel 
products  (except  rails)  the  market  price  at  Pittsburgh,  plus  the 
freight  rate  from  Pittsburgh  to  the  destination  of  the  steel,  no 
matter  what  mill  it  comes  from.  At  Chicago  mills  there  is  added  to 
the  base  price  $7,60  per  ton;  at  Duluth  mills,  $13,20,  and  at  Birming- 
ham mills  an  arbitrary  charge  of  $5.00  per  ton  in  lieu  of  the  full 
amount  of  the  freight  from  Pittsburgh,^  The  effect  is  to  cause  many 
manufacturers  of  rolled  steel  products  to  move  their  mills  to  Pitts- 
burg. The  migration  is  bound  to  be  somewhat  disastrous  to  the 
Illinois  Waterway. 

By  the  means  above  stated,  price  competition  betv/een  the 
steel  mills  is  eliminated  and  the  high  level  of  price  for  steel  pro- 
ducts v/hich  has  no  relation  to  the  cost  of  production  is  seL  Chicago 
^Chicago  Commerce,  April  29,  1922,  V/est  is  Ur^ed  to  Act  on  Vital  Issue 
^Ibid. 


;l[ 

y 

ii 


X 


c 


. V-  'll 

i 

- f*  :io.  ' ' 


J 


r 


J 


< 


X 


' 


i 


75 


is  the  point  of  low  cost  production  of  steel,  and  Birmingham  next. 
Notwithstanding  this  fact  steel  is  sold  for  a higherprioe  h^th  points 
than  at  Pittsburgh. 

The  practice  is  a tremendous  tax  upon  the  people  of  the 
Mississippi  Valley  and  the  West.  A building  requiring  1,000  tons 
of  steel  will  cost  $7,000  more  in  Chicago  than  it  will  cost  in  Pitts- 
burg, although  the  steel  is  rolled  at  a Chic3,go  mill  at  a lesser 
cost  than  it  could  have  been  rolled  at  Pittsburgh,  The  farmer  pays 
$6.88  of  “plus"  in  a grain  binder;  $1.93  in  a corn  planter;  $1.89 
in  a disc  harrow;  $3.61  in  a horse-drawn  gang  plow;  $6.28  in  a tractor 
plow;  $3.06  in  a grain  drill,  and  $19.80  in  a tractor.^ 

The  defense  of  the  practice  is  upon  the  theory  that  there 
is  an  excess  of  demand  over  the  supply  of  steel  everywhere  in  the 
United  States  outside  of  Pittsburgh,  so  that  Pittsburgh  naturally 
fixes  the  price  in  every  market.  But  the  facts  do  not  seem  to  bear 
this  out.  Birmingham  is  more  than  able  to  take  care  of  tis  demands, 
Duluth  exports  east,  and  Chicago  has  come  to  be  one  of  the  greatest 
producing  centers  of  steel  in  the  world. 

The  public  has  never  ceased  in  its  struggle  for  fair  and 
reasonable  prices  without  discrimination  against  any  buyer  or  any 
coim'nunity.  It  created  the  Federal  Trade  Commission  to  safeguard  its 
rights  in  this  respect,  and  has  appealed  to  this  body  to  adjust  the 
unfairness  and  discrimination  in  steel  prices. 

V/ater  Pollution  on  the  Illinois  V/aterway 
This  is  a phase  of  the  general  subject  which  while  not  vital 
to  the  project  deserves  brief  mention.  The  dumping  of  Chicago  sewage 
into  the  Illinois  River  by  means  of  the  Sanitary  District  Canal  is  a 
Chicago  Commerce,  April  29,  1922,  West  is  Urged  to  Act  on  Vital  Issue. 


76 


menace  to  the  health  of  residents  in  the  valley.  A certain,  amount  of 
the  sewage  is  disposed  of  by  carbonization  during  its  course  down  the 
river,  but  the  polluted  area  has  gradually  extended  itself  until  in 
1922  it  had  gone  as  far  south  as  Henry,  Illinois.  Peoria,  seeing 
itself  menaced  during  the  course  of  the  next  tv/enty  or  twenty-five 
years,  has  opened  an  active  campaign  on  the  Chicago  Sanitary  District 
to  speed  up  the  construction  of  filtration  and  reduction  plants.  With 
their  completion  this  abomination  will  become  past  history.^ 

Flood  Control  and  Reclamation  of  Bottom  Lands 
Man  is  able  to  derive  three  distinct  economic  services  from 
any  natural  waterway.  He  may  use  the  stream  as  a medium  of  transpor- 
tation, he  may  concentrate  its  natural  fall  in  one  spot  and  by  means 
of  a generator  obtain  power  from  the  energy  thus  harnessed,  or  he  may 
reclaim  its  bottom  lands  and  use  the  fertile  soil  thus  obtained  in 
growing  agricultural  products.  The  third  of  these  has  not  been  con- 
sidered thus  far,  but  is  worthy  of  some  attention  because  it  connects 
indirectly  with  the  main  issue  of  this  discussion  through  the  subject 
of  flood  control. 

In  the  spring  of  1922,  one  of  the  most  disastrous  floods 

in  the  history  of  Illinois  occured  on  the  Illinois  River.  Work  on  the 

Illinois  Waterway  was  in  progress  at  the  time  and  many  people  were 

inclined  to  feel  that  throwing  dams  across  the  river  at  its  upper  end 

had  something  to  do  with  the  flood.  The  popular  press  took  hold  of 

the  matter  and  by  May,  1922,  some  little  revulsion  to  the  waterway 

project  had  been  generated.  This  was  short-lived  as  an  investigation 

brought  all  the  facts  to  bear  against  any  such  contention. 

Ihe  great  fish  industry  of  Illinois  has  been  materially  reduced  on 
account  of  the  contaminated  medium.  In  Peoria,  Havana,  Beardstown 

and  Lacon,  where  ten  years  ago  fish  were  shipx-^6<i  weekly  to  eastern 
points  by  the  carload,  the  industry  has  now  died  out. 


r. 


ii 


fi 

1-1 

i. 

II 

i'.' 


T?Ti 


t 


' apj 


i I*- 


’{:>  •j'*' 


( 


( 

II 

( 


■|X- 


i'i* 
. < 


l.-» 


r, 


1 


\ 


r 

;v 

,i 


r 


./ 


‘ *'!’  ■'  V 

i.; '} . ■••-•*' 

, ’ V 

iii 

: ■ . ' <, 


77 


Prom  the  head  of  the  river  helow  Joliet  to  La  Salle  the  fal! 
of  the  stream  is  coiaparatively  rapid,  dropping  about  fifty- three 
feet.  The  bluffs  are  high,  the  stream  is  narrow,  and  the  bottom 
lands  are  not  extensive. 

Below  La  Salle  conditions  are  different.  In  233  miles  the 
fall  is  only  thirty- three  feet,^  and  for  the  first  eighty  miles,  only 

I 

six  feet.  There  the  flood  plain  is  much  wider,  spreading  out  to 
seven  miles  at  Beardstown.  Nearly  400,000  acres  of  bottom  land  are 
subject  to  flood  betv/een  La  Salle  and  Grafton, 

Advantage  has  been  taken  of  these  natural  condition  to  con- 
struct levees,  generally  ten  to  fifteen  feet  high,  following  the  low 
water  bank,  thus  permitting  farm  operations  on  the  wide  bottom  lands, 
Plate  XIV,  page  78,  shows  the  area  subject  to  floods  prior  to  and 
after  the  construction  of  levees.  In  general,  the  levees  have  been 
located  upon  the  highest  ground,  without  proper  regard  for  the  remain- 
ing cross-section  left  for  the  passage  of  floods.  Therein  lies  the 
trouble  and  cause  of  the  controversy. 

2 

The  methods  of  securing  flood  relief  are  two:  First,  flood 

prevention,  in  which  the  actual  flow  of  water  is  reduced,  as  through 

storage  of  the  flood  waters,  and,  second,  flood  protection,  which  may 

best  be  secured  by  a more  capacious  channel  for  the  existing  floods. 

Along  the  Illinois  River  no  site  is  available  for  the  hundred  thousand 

acre  reservoir  which  would  be  needed  in  case  flood  prevention  were 

desired.  The  increased  channel  capacity  can  be  secured  to  prevent 

overflow  in  time  of  flood,  either  by  setting  the  levees  farther  back 

or  increasing  their  height.  If  levee  construction  could  start  over 

again,  the  levees  would  better  be  set  farther  back  from  the  stream 

^Chicago  Commerce,  May  13,  1922,  Levees  Make  Trouble  on  Illinois  River, 
Burdick,  C.  B. , Alvord,  Burdick  and  Howson,  Engineers,  Chicago. 




I 


78 


PLATE  XIV. 


(X 

tx! 

fc 

< 

Q 

<: 

ee 

cc 

o 

K 

OD 

> 

M 

cc 

CO 

M 

o 

'Z 

M 

ij 
I— I 

ea 

3C 

E-- 

O 

S 

CO 

M 

OS 

CU 

a 

o 

o 

►J 

&. 

M 

a; 

E-- 


(D 

I— I ^ 

O 

35 

ffiiH  C 
X-H  O 

-P  35-H 
>-P 
O c6  O 
3 
35  t, 
b O-P 
O U m 
•H  c6  C 
O 

P^ffi  O 
X 

03 -P  <D 

T)  x: 

O 03 -P 
O 5 
rH  O (D 
Ch-P  O 
0)  C 
O -H 
+3jC  03 

+3  03  03 
O P-P 
P 'O£  03 
•r-3  .H 
X3  P X 
3 P 3) 

33  5 
O -P 
c8  rH  -H 
43 

P ® 3 
(«x:  as 

® 03 

x:  T! 

+3  • O 
03  O 
m © -I 

s © « 

o > 

X!  ® ’-M 
© rH  O 

x:  Cm  ® 

P<  Oo: 
aJ  <3 

u cm 

•Os;'  o ® • 
•H  (6  © 
p -p  P.® 
® o ® 
Pj  3 ® > 
pj  PX  © 
3 -P-P  i-H 
© 

© P P © 
X OCX 
ocp-p 


79. 

iDut  it  is  believed  that  the  present  investment  is  too  large  to  ac- 
complish this  now.  The  proper  remedy,  no  doubt,  lies  in  increased 
hei^t,  with  due  regard  to  the  greatest  flood  to  be  expected. 


jT 


ii.)iti<t»it.i.Uii 


‘j-  ■ n.'tyiskc^^al^  ■ ->jti ' ■'  t(i®vwo?»' 

' V Ji  ' -^;v 


4\  >. 


• '^1-  \V  .f**  ui|  * 

^ V 


4 

f 


( 

i 

t 

I 

i 

i 


I 

i. 

i • 

I 

I 


/ 

■/ 


,T 


»■  ' 


’g^«V 

T fi 


55!P*SSESF?®S 


80 


CHAPTER  VI. 

THE  RESULTS  OE  THE  SURVEY 

Any  attempt  to  forecast  accurately  the  exact  number  of  tons 
of  goods  to  be  hauled  on  the  Illinois  Waterv/ay,  or  say  with  a cer- 
tainty just  how  many  dollars  and  cents  will  be  saved  to  the  people 
of  Illinois  on  account  of  this  new  highway  of  commerce,  would  be  in- 
deed presumptuous. 

Erom  the  national  standpoint  there  is  no  better  conclusion 
than  that  drawn  by  President  Warren  G.  Harding,  in  a speech  to  the 
Agricultural  Conference  held  in  Washington  in  January,  1922.  Speak- 
ing manifestly  after  consideration  of  reports  of  engineers  and  econo- 
mists the  President  stated,  in  effect,  that  delay  in  the  matter  of 
inland  water  transportation  had  retarded  American  development,  and 
that  delay  should  therefore  end  and  construction  work  begin. 

"We  have  too  long  neglected  our  waterways,"  the  President 
said.  "We  need  a practical  development  of  water  resources  for  trans- 
portation and  power.  Y/aterway  improvement  represents  not  only  the 
possibility  of  expanding  our  transportation  system,  but  also  of  pro- 
ducing hydro-electric  power  for  its  operation  and  for  the  activities 
of  widely  diffused  industry," 

The  first  sentence  quoted  might  very  reasonably  have  been 
written  after  the  President  had  made  a personal  study  of  the  Illinois 
llVaterway  project.  Reflection  upon  the  circumstance  that  a bond  issue 
for  this  purpose  was  authorized  fifteen  years  ago,  and  that  practical- 
ly nothing  has  been  done  since,  compels  the  adraission  that  "we  have 
too  long  neglected"  one  of  the  greatest  potential  resources  of  the 


*4 


,'Cr 


4 


» 


V'l 


*'U 


t 


■y 


4»K 


H 


s :.j> 


I 


4 


j '. 


u 


? 


•V 

> ' ■ ':s!gg<^jai 


81. 


state  and  nation. 

The  real  "business  man  is  concerned  about  conservation. 

Those  who  do  the  world’s  business-“Whe ther  of  production  or  distribu- 
tion-~are  those  who  of  necessity  must  bear  economic  waste  of  mind, 
body,  or  material.  Therefore  whether  the  business  man  be  a banker, 
merchant,  manufacturer,  farmer  or  hired  v/orker,  and  wherever  he  may 
be  located,  he  is  vitally  concerned  in  all  waste. 

For  thirty  years  or  more  the  State  of  Illinois  has  wasted 
one  of  the  most  potential  waterways  in  the  world.  The  wasting  of 
these  possibilities  of  water-borne  traffic  has  made  more  difficult 
the  solution  of  the  economic  problems  of  this  area,  the  most  produc- 
tive in  the  United  States,  and  has  been  responsible  in  part  for  the 
halted  progress  made  in  clarifying  the  problems  of  the  entire  nation. 

At  a comparatively  insignificant  cost  a v;ater  channel  can 
be  created--with  greater  carrying  capacity  than  all  the  railroads  in 
the  state.  This  traffic  channel  once  created  is  built  for  all  time. 
The  installation  of  corporate,  individual  and  public  carrier  service 
would  develop  some  of  the  most  profitable  enterprises  in  the  state. 
Steel  rails  rust,  locomotives  and  rolling  stock  rapidly  deteriorate; 
the  Illinois  River  has  been  flowing  for  centuries  and  its  upkeep  is 
practically  nothing,  Illinois  furnished  more  for  the  building  of 
the  Panama  Canal  than  it  will  cost  to  perfect  the  Illinois  Waterway, 
without  receiving  a fraction  of  the  benefits  from  the  former  which 
are  in  the  store  of  the  future  if  the  latter  is  well  carried  out. 

Illinois  needs  free  access  to  southern,  Pacific  coast  and 
South  American  business.  The  completed  channel  from  Joliet  will  fur- 
nish the  necessary  freedom  of  access.  It  will  give  water  transporta- 
tion to  and  from  the  southern  and  western  states,  South  America,  the 


82 


Pacific  Coast  and  Asia;  it  will  enable  Illinois  to  compete  with 
Argentine  exports  of  corn;  it  will  provide  cheap  transportation  for 
thirty  million  tons  of  coal  per  year  to  Central  and  Northern  Illinois 
at  a saving  of  $15,000,000;  it  will  save  the  farmers  five  cents  or 
more  per  bushel  on  grain  because  of  reduced  freight  rates. 

In  1921  there  were  214  million  bushels  of  corn,  oats,  wheati 
rye,  and  barley  produced  within  forty  miles  of  the  Illinois  Waterway. 

A saving  of  five  cents  per  bushel  on  this  grain  will  amount  to  over 
nine  million  dollars.  The  completed  project  would  also  lower  the  cosi 
of  imports  from  New  Orleans  on  such  articles  as  sugar,  coffee,  rice 
and  sisal  for  binding  tvirine;  would  develop  industries  along  the  water- 
way; and  v/ould  develop  75,000  electrical  horsepower  to  net  the  state 
one  and  a half  million  dollars  per  year.  This  revenue  alone  would 
pay  for  the  canal  within  a few  years.  Finally,  the  course  of  the 
Illinois  River  is  such  that  seventy-eight  percent  of  the  area  and 
eighty-six  percent  of  the  population  of  the  state  will  be  within  truci 
ing  distance  of  the  Illinois  Waterway  and  its  connecting  waters. 

There  is  a fact  that  remains,  however,  beyond  dispute  at 
the  present  time  and  it  is  this;  Our  chief  reliance  for  transporta- 
tion in  the  United  States  as  a whole  will  continue  to  be  placedon  the 
railroads  for  a long  time  to  come.  For  the  good  of  the  nation,  the 
solution  of  the  waterway  problem  connotes  a friendly  alliance  v/ith  the 
already  existing  means  of  transportation.  The  waterways  must  assume 
their  place--and  it  is  a minor  place--subsidiary  to  the  railroads  in 
the  great  national  scheme  of  transportation.  Our  country  is  no  long- 
er laid  out  for  successful  waterway  suprema.cy.  If  these  two  great 
groups  of  transportation  facilities  are  not  to  be  v;eakened,  they  must 

be  co-ordinated.  That  involves  a burden  for  the  statesman  and  the 
economist.  It  is  one  of  the  first  tasks  of  the  future. 


83 


BIBLIOGRAPHY 


BOOKS  AND  PAliPHLETS. 

Barnes,  Mortimer  G. , Inland  Waterways  and  Transportation  Costs, 
Springfield,  1920. 

Bairnes,  Mortimer  G, , The  Illinois  Waterway,  Springfield,  1921. 

Brown,  R.  G, , Iioprovement  of  various  NavigaBle  Rivers,  Govern- 
ment Printing  Office,  1913. 

Clapp,  Edwin  J. , The  Navigable  Rhine,  Houghton  Mifflin,  N.Y,  ,3  911 

Delano,  P,  A..,  Waterways--Their  Limitations  and  Possibilities. 

An  address  before  the  National  Rivers  and  Harbors  Congress  of  the 
United  States,  Washington,  1910, 

Deneen,  C,  S. , Deep  Waterway,  Governor’s  Message  to  the  Eorty- 
fifth  General  Assembly  of  the  State  of  Illinois.  At  Springfield,  1907, 

Deneen,  C,  S, , The  Deep  Waterway.  Governor’s  Message  to  the 
Forty-seventh  General  Assembly  of  the  State  of  Illinois,  ^ringfiel^ 

1911, 

Fairburn,  William,  Remarks  on  Canal  Navigation,  Longman,  Rees, 
Orrce,  Brown  and  Green,  London,  1831, 

Hepburn,  A.  B, , Artificial  Waterways  of  the  World,  MacMillan, 
1914. 

Hulbert,  A.  B.,  Great  American  Canals,  McClurg,  1904. 

Illinois  Rivers  and  Lakes  Commission.  Annual  Reports  to  date. 

Illinois  Waterway,  An  outline  of  the  plan  with  Editorial  Comment 
from  the  Press  and  Resolutions  of  the  State  Organizations,  1916, 

Leverett,  Frank,  The  V/ater  Resources  of  Illinois,  U,S,  Geol, 
Survey,  17th  Annual  Report,  part  2,  pp.  701-849,  Map,  plate  112, 

MacElwee,  R,  S. , and  Ritter,  A.  H, , Economic  Aspects  of  the  Great 
Lakes- St,  Lawrence  Ship  Channel,  Ronald,  1921* 

Memorial  of  the  Iroquois  Club  of  Chicago  to  the  Senate  and  House 
of  Representatives  of  the  United  States,  Chicago,  1663, 

Memorial  Presented  by  the  Trustees  of  the  Sanitary  District  of 
Chicago  to  the  Congress  of  the  United  States.  Deep  Waterway  from 
Lake  Michigan  to  the  Mississippi  River,  1902, 

Moulton.  Harold  Glenn,  Waterways  versus  Railways,  Houghton  Mifflii^ 

1912, 


< 


{ 


••  X 


t 


84. 


Putnam,  J.  W, , An  Econoiuic  History  of  the  Illinois  and  Michigan 
Canal,  Journal  of  Pol*  Econ, , XVII,  1909.  Reprint. 

Putnam,  J.  W. , The  Illinois  and  Michigan  Canal,  University  of 
Chicago  Press,  1918. 

Report  of  the  Rivers  and  Lakes  Commission  on  The  Illinois  River 
and  its  Bottom  Lands,  with  Reference  to  the  conservation  of  Agricui 
ture  and  Fisheries  and  the  control  of  Floods.  Springfield,  1915. 

Shaw,  James,  The  Canal  and  the  Railroads,  1897, 

Shelton,  W.  A.,  Lakes- to- the-Gulf  Deep  Waterway,  Chicago,  1912. 

Stickney,  G,  W, , Project  for  a navigable  waterway  from  Southern 
Illinois  coal  fields  to  Mississippi  River  by  way  of  Big  Muddy  River. 
Illinois  Rivers  and  Lakes  Commission,  1917, 

U,  S,  Cong.  Rep,  of  Examination  for  canal  connecting  Lake  Super- 
ior and  the  Mississippi  River,  Government  Printing  Office,  1909, 

U.  S,  Engineers  Department,  Final  Report,  Waterway  from  Lockport 
Illinois,  to  the  mouth  of  the  Illinois  River,  Governemtn  Printing 
Office,  1914. 

U,  S.  Railroad  Administration,  Division  of  Waterways,  Annual 
Report,  1918-1919,  Division  of  Inland  Waterways,  The  Administration, 

Vernon-Harcour t , Veleson  F.,  A Treatise  on  Rivers  and  Canals, 

Vol,  I,  Clarendon,  Oxford,  1882, 


< 


< 


i; 


85 


PERIODICALS 

Andrews,  F. , Inland  "boat  service;  Freight  rates  on  farra  products 
and  time  of  transit  on  inland  Waterways  in  the  United  States,  U*S. 
Ag.  Bull.  74:1-36  *14. 

Baker,  C.  W. , What  is  the  fuiureof  inland  Water  Transportation? 
Engineering  N. , 84:19-28,  85-9,  137-44,184-91,234-42.  January  1-29, 

1920. 

Barnes,  M,  G. , New  Illinois  Waterway  Ahstracts.  Engineering  and 
Contracting.  53:261-2,  March  10,1920, 

Canals  and  Railways— Discussion,  Am.  Econ.  Ass'n,,  Bull.  4th 
Ser.  1:197-203,  April,  1911. 

Craig,  C.  P.,  From  the  Great  Lakes  to  the  Atlantic.  Bat.  Eve. 
Post,  192:40-8,  June,  1920. 

Division  of  the  chief  of  Engineers,  U.  S.  A.,  Against  the 
Illinois  Waterway,  Engineering  and  Contracting,  46:253-4,  March  16, 
1916. 

Fairlie,  J.  A.,  The  Economic  Effects  of  Qiip  Canals.,  Annals  of 
the  Amer.  Acad,  of  Pol.  and  Social  Science,  XI,  January,  1898. 

Final  Report  of  the  National  V/aterways  Commission.  Review. 

Am,  Econ.  R.  , 2:956-60.  December,  1915. 

Fisher,  W,  L. , Waterways: their  place  in  our  transportation 
system,  J,  Pol.  Econ,  23:641-62,  July,  1915. 

Government  operation  of  Inland  Waterways,  Engineering  N, 
84:506-7,  March  11,  1920, 

Hines,  W,  D, , Railroad  as  Feeders  to  Waterv/ays,  Ry,  R, 

Vol.  64: 312-13,  March  1,  1919. 

Holbrook,  E,  A.,  Amorphous  Silica  of  Southern  Illinois,  Eng, 
and  Min,  J. , 103:1136-9,  June  30,  1917, 

Illinois  Rivers  and  Lakes  Commission,  Bulletins  1-19, 

Illinois  State  Waterway  for  Barge  Navigation,  Engineering  N, 
85:1095-8,  December  2,  1920, 

Illinois  W'aterway  Proposed  Eight  Foot  Channel  from  Lockport  to 
Utica.  Engineering  and  Contracting,  43:201,  March  3,  1915, 

Long,  T.  K. , Lakes  -to-the-Gulf  Deep  Waterway,  World  Today. 
17:1265-8,  December,  1909, 

McClure,  W.  F, , Chicago-St,  Louis  Waterway,  Sci,  Am.  97:209-10, 
September  21,  1907, 

Markham,  C,  H, , Co-Ordination  of  Rail  and  Water  Transport, 

Ry,  Age,  69:1057-60.  December  17.  19g<^  


\ 

\ . 


\ 


c 


86 


Morgan,  H,  B,,  Imperative  Need  of  the  Lakes  to  the  Gulf  Deep 
Waterway,  Munic,  Eng,  54:6-7,  January,  1918, 

Moulton,  H,  G, , Analysis  of  the  Waterways  Movement.  Ry.  R, 
58:243-7,  February  12,  1916, 

Moulton,  H,  G, , Economic  Aspects  of  Inland  Y/ater  Transportation. 

J,  Geog. , 15:73-8,  112-16,  November  and  December,  1916. 

Moulton,  H,  G, , Illinois  V/ater-Power  Scheme,  J.  Pol.  I’con. 
18:381-7,  May,  1910. 

Moulton,  H,  G,  , Setback  for  the  Waterways  Movement,  J,  POl, 

Econ.  23:961-70.  December,  1915. 

Moulton,  H,  G. , Some  Aspects  of  the  Waterways  Q,uestion.  J,  Pol, 
Econ,  22:239-52.  March,  1914, 

Plans  to  Barge  Pig  Iron  from  Southern  Illinois  Stacks.  Iron, 
Trade  R. , 61:841,  October  18,  1917. 

Revive  canal  Plan  to  Aid  Steel  Trade.  Iron  Trade  R.  67:565. 
August  26,  1920. 

Sand,  Stone  and  Gravel  supplies  adjacent  to  Cook  County,  Illinois ► 
Engineering  and  Contracting.  47:188-91,  February  21,  1917, 

Skerrett,  R,  G. , Duluth  to  Liverpool  in  one  bottom.  Scientific 
Am.  122:670.  June  19,  1920. 

Transportation  Cost  by  Canal  and  Railway.  Cassier*s  Magazine, 
40:761-5.  December,  1911, 

Ward,  E,  J.  , Another  plan  of  the  Deep  Waterway  Problem;  A 
Projected  Water  Power  Waterway  from  Joliet  to  Utica,  Illinois, 

World  Today,  18:102-5.  January,  1910. 

Water  Transportation  For  Relieving  Railroad  Congestion, 

Coal  Age,  13:831-2.  March  4,  1918, 


1 


swawsaras 


lilEWSPAPERS 


87. 


Chicago  Daily  News.  Files,  September  1,  1921  to ’May  1,  1922. 
Chicago  Journal  of  Commerce.  Files,  Jan.  1,  1921  to  May  1,  1922. 
Chicago  Tribune.  Files,  June  1,  1921  to  May  16,  1922. 


MAPS 

Illinois  River  and  its  Bottom  Lane.  Maps.  Illinois  Rivers  and 
Lalces  Commission. 

Survey  of  Waterway  from  Lake  Michigan  to  Illinois  River  at  La  Salle, 
Illinois.  26  Maps.  House  of  Representatives,  Ex.  Doc.  264.  IX. 

Vernon-Har court,  Veleson,  F.  A Treatise  on  Rivers  and  Canals.  Vol. 
II.  Clarendon,  Oxford,  1882. 

Weller,  Stuart,  The  Geological  Map  of  Illinois.  Illinois  State 

Geological  Survey.  Bull.  No.  1,  University  of  Illinois,  Urbana., 
1906. 


BIBLIOGRAPHY 

Griffin,  A.  P.  C.  Conplete  List  of  Works  Relating  to  Deep  Waterways 
from  the  Great  Lakes  to  the  Atlantic  Ocean.  Government  Print- 
ing Office.  1908. 

Putnam,  J.  W. , The  Illinois  and  Michigan  Canal.  University  of 
Chicago  Press,  1918.  Pages  183-203. 

References  on  Provisions  of  the  Cummins  Bill  Regarding  Standards 
of  Rate-Making  and  Limitation  of  Profits.  Part  II--Standards 
of  Rate- Making.  Pr^ared  by  the  Bureau  of  Railway  Economics. 
1921, 


